Dragon Love
by Ginny001
Summary: Ginny is heartbroken over Harry and plans to spend the night of the ball sitting in her dorm crying but will that all change when she runs into a certain Blonde haired Bad boy and ends up in his debt? yeah finally updated..
1. What Becomes of the Broken Hearted

(A/N)Hey this story takes place in Ginny's 6th year and Harry's 7th. This is my first attempt at a fan fic so please be nice and Review.  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters(apart from the ones with names you don't recognise) And the (stupid) plot is mine but apart from that it all belongs to JK Rowling  
  
Dragon Love Chapter 0ne - A heartbroken Ginny  
  
  
  
Ginny Weasley stared gloomily at the fire in the Gryffindor common room. Its heat was glowing, the flickering flames reflecting on her tear stained face, dancing up and down, shadows of gold and red. She could feel her face getting hot, too hot but she would not move, could not move. She run her hands through her hair, her bright red hair that made her noticeable and matched the fire that she had resolutely placed herself in front of.  
  
"Ginny, come on. Come to dinner." Her friend Julia urged her.  
  
" I'm not going" she heard herself saying. She was too lost in her mind to pay attention to what she was doing. Everything that was happening felt like a faint echo, something that she wasn't part of, as if she was living someone else's life.  
  
"Please, Gin. It's not the end of the world. I know you must be upset and everything but-"  
  
"He was going to ask me" She said in a shaky voice, finally able to talk about it.  
  
" I know he was. I know" Said another friend Jenna  
  
"So what happened? Why didn't he?" Ginny felt as if she was going to break down again.  
  
She knew she was being stupid but she couldn't help it. She had been hopelessly in love with The boy Who Lived ever since he had first turned up at The burrow and she had run out of the room red faced. Harry did that to her. He made her feel weird inside whenever she looked at him, he made her skin blaze and she became temporarily dumb whenever he spoke to her. But this year had been different. She had finally been able to have a proper conversation with him and she was finally beginning to be more to him than just Ron's shy little sister. She had told him things. She had run to him when she was upset and he even sometimes confided in her, telling her things that not even Ron and Hermione knew.  
  
Then a rumour had gone round the school. Harry Potter, the boy who defeated Voldemort was going to ask her, Ginny Weasley, to the Christmas ball. Harry had approached her earlier today. Ginny replayed the conversation in her mind like she had done for the past half hour.  
  
"Ginny, can I talk to you?" Harry had said  
  
"Sure" She had replied, willingly following him into an empty classroom.  
  
"Can I ask you something?"  
  
"Anything" She had breathed.  
  
"Well" Harry had gone slightly red "I really need your help with something. See there's this girl who I'm friends with but I really really like her and I want to ask her to the ball but I'm worried incase she says no. What do you think I should do? I mean you're a girl you know about this stuff, right?"  
  
Ginny's heart had leapt. This was it! The rumours had been true!  
  
" I think you should just ask her straight out. I'm pretty sure that she will say yes" She had tried to keep the excitement out of her voice.  
  
"Thanks, Gin. I knew you would say that. I'm going to go and ask Cho now!" He had given her a quick hug before he left and said "Thanks for your help"  
  
Ginny had run off to her dorm in tears and her friends had finally gotten what was wrong out of her.  
  
" I can't believe he asked me about someone else! Surely he knew how I felt about him!"  
  
"It's ok, Gin. We will find someone else for you" Said Julia  
  
I don't want anyone else! I want Harry and only Harry, no one else will do!  
  
"Ok" She said feebly.  
  
She allowed them to lead her out of the common room and down to dinner feeling like her world was ending.  
  
  
  
(A/N)That's it for now but I'm hoping to do get another chapter up tomorrow if people like this so please review so I know whether to continue this or not. Don't worry, Draco will be in the next chapter and I know Ginny is getting really upset about nothing but she's liked Harry for a looong time and just had her hopes dashed. She'll be more like herself next chapter. 


	2. Enter Mr Malfoy

**(A/N) Here is the next part. This bit is also dead short but in the next chapter I intend to make the chapters longer and get some action going. These first 2 chapters are more a kind of introduction to Ginny and Draco.  
****Disclaimer: Once again I only own the plot and the funny names you don't recognise the rest all belongs to the brilliant JK Rowling. I'm not sure about the title of this chapter I probably adapted it from a book or something…  
  
Chapter two –Enter Mr Malfoy  
  
Malfoy watched as Potter entered the Great Hall with that Chang girl. So Potter had _finally managed to get a girl. He smirked, thinking of the many girls who were dying to go out with him. But what else could you expect. The years had definitely been kind to Draco. He still had his pale complexion and light hair but now he had a great body. All that working out over the summer had finally done him some good, he had thought smugly when all the girls fell to his feet. Of course his attitude helped as well. Being the school "Bad Boy" definitely had its advantages.  
  He watched as the Weasley girl entered the hall surrounded by her friends. __God she looked a wreck and Draco couldn't help wondering what Potter had done to her. Her eyes were swollen and even from his distance it was obvious that she had been crying. Her hair was all over the place. He made a mental note to find out what was wrong with her and have a good laugh over it later, probably something to do with Potter's new girlfriend. He smirked, __it should be against the law for a girl to love a guy so much. Look what he's done to her.  
He turned to his fellow Slytherins "Look at that Weasley girl. No self respect whatsoever. Mind you, what would you expect coming from a family like __that?"  
The people around him laughed.__  
God they laugh at anything  
" So, who's ready for the ball" He rolled his eyes, clearly expressing what he thought of Dumbledore and his stupid balls.  
" Ooh, I know __I am" cooed Pansy Parkinson. Blaise Zabini made a face behind her back and raised her eyebrows as if asking Draco if he was taking Pansy.  
" NO way!" Draco mouthed to her. Blaise laughed but quickly stopped at Pansy's questioning look.  
Draco remembered the Yule Ball only too well. His father had bullied him into taking Pansy ("It will be good for our family. We want to stay on the Parkinson's good side") Pansy had clung to his arm the whole night and then *he shuddered at the memory* had attempted to snog his mouth off. She was the worst kisser __ever, she had no idea what she was doing and slobbered like a dog. This year Draco had put his foot down and told his father that no way was he repeating that experience.  
This year Draco was on the look out for someone a little different. He needed someone who could stand up to him and didn't agree with everything he said. Someone with a brain (which Pansy Parkinson clearly lacked). And he was thinking that Blaise might be just the ticket.  
But she could chase him. Draco Malfoy was not a hunter. He was lazy and let himself be pursued, usually before crushing someone's hopes. He smirked, that was just the way he was. If people didn't like it then __tough, Draco Malfoy never regretted what __could have happened. Regrets and emotions were for weak people, people that were practically asking to be hurt. People like Weasley, who would probably spend the next month crying over Potter. That was what __love did to you, it turned you into a wreck, caused you sleepless nights. He was ice, he thought smugly and he was not going to melt.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Thanks to the lovely, lovely people who reviewed:_****  
****Lady Godiva  
Winter Moonglade                                                                  
Delta2002 Violet Glare  
Shadun  
Rebuky  
OceansBlue  
Darcel   
  
Thank you all so much for being my first reviewers.  
  
I hope to have the next chapter out before Christmas so please Review this because I want to know what people think of it.**


	3. A Bad Day For All Involved

Disclaimer: Once again I only own the characters you don't recognise and the plot. Everything else belongs to JK Rowling   
  
(A/N) Ok I know I said I would have the next chapter out before Christmas but I got kind of busy what with Christmas being a "family time" and all. So here's chapter three. I hope you like it and no one is disappointed, I tried to keep Draco in character as much as possible.  
  
  
Dragon Love – Chapter 3 – A Bad Day for all involved  
"And today we will be studying how to change ordinary everyday items into–"  
  
_blah blah blah Ginny was sitting in Transfiguration bored out of her mind. Julia and Jenna were fascinated.  
  
 Ginny sat tapping her Quill against her desk which was old and rather burnt, where some spells had obviously gone very wrong.  
  
"Miss Weasley would you desist making that noise"  
  
__what the hell??? Ginny realised she was still tapping her pen very loudly  
  
"Oh….right...ok"  
  
"You ok?" Jenna mouthed to her.  
  
Ginny nodded her head. She was feeling slightly better than she had a few nights ago. Her sadness had been replaced by anger. __  
He thinks he's too good for me. I'm just stupid little Ginny, his best friend's sister who can help him get the girl he wants.  
  
"WEASLEY!"  
Ginny jumped. "What!!?!" She unintentionally yelled back at McGonagall.  
  
__God I wish I had a camera the look on McGonagall's face was so funny! It was almost worth getting into trouble for…  
  
"Miss Weasley, you will stay behind after the end of this class you have not been paying attention at all and you will not shout back at me!"  
  
Ginny felt a wave of fear pass through her. She had never been kept behind. Never in 6 years had she been in trouble. __  
Oh god I hope Mum and Dad don't hear about this she thought, remembering the time Ron got a Howler…  
  
"Miss Weasley, I have been having complaints about you from your other professors. This is very serious as you have always been a good pupil. What is wrong?"  
  
"Nothing"__  
Nothing that I want to tell **you, you old bat.  
  
After going on and on for another ten minutes, McGonagall reluctantly let Ginny go to her next class.  
  
"The teachers all think I'm cracking up or something!" said Ginny indignantly to Jenna and Julia on their way to Potions.  
Jenna and Julia exchanged a look  
  
"Maybe it's time you moved on away from all that stuff with Harry" Julia said  
**__Maybe I don't **want to move on  
  
"Maybe."  
  
"Look, Ginny, we're really worried about you. You're not being yourself" Jenna said  
  
"I'm fine! Honest" Ginny made an attempt at a smile. "Now come on! We don't want to be late for potions or Snape will yell at me as well…"  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Draco was walking Blaise to class.  
  
It had been the type of morning that he hated. Dull and uneventful. He had managed to make some jokes at Potter's expense in Care of Magical Creatures, but not as many as he would have liked.  
  
"What are we in next?" he asked Blaise  
  
"Charms, or some other shit."  
  
"Damn, Flitwick gave us homework didn't he?"   
  
Draco looked around and spotted a 7th year Hufflepuff  
  
"Hey you there! Do you do Charms?"  
  
"Y-yes…" The Hufflepuff said warily  
  
"Well have you done the homework Flitwick gave all the classes this month?"  
  
"N-no I'm n-not in Charms till tomorrow" he backed away.   
  
Draco could be very menacing when he wanted to be  
  
"Oh that's convenient isn't it? Empty your bag. Now" he said  
  
"Draco? What are you doing?" Blaise asked  
  
"He's got that homework in his bag. I know it" Draco growled  
  
"Don't be silly! Leave the poor guy alone" Blaise dragged Draco away for the terrified looking Hufflepuff and down the corridor.  
  
Draco was feeling very disgruntled. He didn't think that Blaise was the goody goody type who cared about Hufflepuffs. And he hated being told he was silly. He glared at Blaise  
  
"What did you do that for? He was almost about to give me that bloody homework!"  
  
"Yeah and Dumbledore was walking down that corridor. Did you want to spend the rest of your day in the Headmaster's office?"  
  
"No", Draco said sullenly, not able to think of anything to say.  
  
**_

"Well then." said Blaise looking annoyingly smug.  
  
Draco was in a very bad mood. He hated being wrong and he hated being corrected by a girl.  
  
"Go and join Ravenclaw if you're so clever then" He snarled at Blaise  
  
If **he wasn't having a good day then he didn't want anyone else to be either.  
  
Blaise stopped smirking and looked hurt.  
  
"What's with you?" she yelled "What the ****hell is up your ass today?!"  
  
This got the attention of all the people standing around them. Draco was very aware that he was being watched.  
  
"I was just about to say the same thing to you!" he snarled "Tell me, Blaise. Is it that time of the month again?"  
  
Draco knew that was low. He didn't know what had made him say ****that  
  
Blaise looked mad. Her face turned red and she was shaking with anger  
  
"How dare you!!" She reached forward and slapped him as hard as she could.  
  
_Bloody hell! That hurt! Jesus!  
  
  
Draco stepped back his face stinging. Speechless with rage.  
  
"What did you expect, Malfoy?" said Emma, a 7th year Slytherin "If you ask me, that's like the worst thing to say to a girl ever!"  
  
"Oh yeah? Well I didn't ask your bloody opinion, did I?" snapped Draco, getting more irritated by the second.   
  
He swaggered off to catch up with Blaise who had run up the corridor after slapping him.  
"OY! That _****hurt!" he yelled after her.  
  
Blaise turned round. Tears were running down her face  
"So did your stupid comment!" she said_  
  
He'd made her cry! Oh god….__  
There goes my date to the dance  
  
"Well-"Draco never finished his sentence.  
Blaise never found out if he had been about to apologise.  
(A/n: personally I think he was about to sweet-talk her into saying sorry to him. Malfoys do not apologise. Well not so early on in the story anyway…)  
  
"Aaaaaagh!" Blaise screamed.   
  
One of the suits of armour was tumbling. About to land on Draco. Draco looked up too late. It had been knocked by one of the students rushing to class and was about to come crashing down on top of him!  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
"Did you hear about the argument?"   
  
"No" said Ginny "What argument?"  
  
Ginny, Jenna and Julia were still making their way to Potions, Very slowly.  
  
"Malfoy and Zabini! She was yelling at him and then he said "Is it that time of the month?" And she went bloody mental and slapped him! It was priceless! Look there they are just up the corridor, Maybe he's apologising to her."  
  
"A Malfoy apologising? This I have to see!" Ginny grabbed the arms of her two friends and raced down the corridor, shoving several disgruntled 5th years out of the way.  
  
Malfoy was standing there next to an upset looking Blaise.  
He was saying "Well-"  
  
Then Blaise screamed.  
Ginny gasped. One of the 5th years she had shoved out of the way in her rush to get to   
  
Malfoy had toppled into a suit of armour. Which was about to fall on Draco!  
__It'll knock him out if that lands on him!  
  
She dived, later she would wonder why, and sent both Draco and herself tumbling to the ground, shoving him out of the way of the falling suit of armour.  
  
She felt them both landing on the ground in a tangle then something hard hit her. She heard the screams of Julia and Jenna before everything went black.   
  
  
(A/N) Thanks again to all the people who reviewed  
  
_****The Charmed One: good point, I'll go back and change it to another name later. Thanks for pointing that out.  
****PsychoTeenyBopper: I tried to put more paragraphs in this one, thanks for that and I fixed my review thing.   
****Angel-Hiragizawa32: Yay! I updated. I'm glad you like it  
****Stokely: Thanks! I'm definitely going to finish this story then I might write more depending on how this one turns out.   
****Sexy-sassy-sweety: thanks I will  
****Darcel Lucia: This chapter is a bit longer. And the next one will probably be longer than this one (hopefully)   
****Lady Godiva: Thanks again for giving me a great review!!!   
****Winter Moonglade: Thanks! I tried to keep Draco in character as well as I could  
****Shadun: Thanks for reviewing again!  
****The person that is anonymous: Thanks for reviewing  
****Rei.K: Thanks.   
****Crazycoolchica11: Draco IS hot; I've recently turned into a complete Draco- holic  
  
Please Review this chapter! It makes my day and will encourage me to update quicker  
    
  
  
**


	4. Let's Make It Even

Wow! You guys are great! 46 reviews! I never dreamed I would get that many! I'm so glad people like this! I'm feeling very encouraged to do another fanfic after this! Ok, so this is mainly the chapter when the actual plot starts. The chapters before this were basically leading to this. D/G IS going to happen but I am determined not to rush into it because I don't think it would happen like that. And Draco isn't really as nice as he could be in this chapter… So here's chapter 4, hope yous like it.  
  
Disclaimer : Same as last chapter, it all belongs to JK etc etc  
  
  
  
Chapter 4 – Let's make it even  
  
_what? Where am I?!?!   
  
Draco woke up, he was in the hospital wing. What the hell was he doing there…?  
  
Then it came back to him, flashbacks of him yelling at Blaise, and then chasing her down the hallway, then that falling armour… the last thing he remembered was a flash of red before he felt himself being pushed to the ground with someone else on top of him.  
  
 "Ah! Finally you are awake!" Madame Pomfrey rushed over to his bed, a bar of Honeydukes chocolate in her hand.  
  
"What happened? How long have I been here?!" Draco tried not to panic, but he hated it when he didn't know what was happening. He liked to know what was going on which was probably why he spent a lot of his time listening in on other people's conversations and spying on them.  
  
"Just a few hours."  
  
"A few hours?!?! Tell me, WHAT HAPPENED?"  
  
"You had a nasty fall. You were standing talking to Miss Zabini when a suit of armour nearly fell on you. If it wasn't for Miss Weasley you would have very serious injuries."  
  
"Weasley?! What's __she got to do with it?!"  
  
"Here, eat this." Madame Pomfrey handed Draco the chocolate. She pointed at another hospital bed across from Draco. Sure enough, there was Weasley lying with her hair spread across the pillow. Draco scowled.  
  
"Miss Weasley saw the armour about to fall on you and dived to push you out of the way. A very stupid, dangerous thing to do." She tutted. "You both fell to the ground and the suit of armour hit her, narrowly missing her head. It just landed on her hand. She was very lucky. And so are you. You might have died or had a serious knock to your head if she hadn't shoved you out of the way."  
  
Draco voiced what he had been thinking for the past 5 minutes.  
  
__ "Why?"  
  
"Sorry?"  
  
"Why did she save me? I'm not her friend! I'm not even in her house!!"  
  
Madame Pomfrey stared at him hard. "Maybe she is just a nice person. She is a Gryffindor. I don't think many Gryffindors would have let someone be killed by a falling suit of armour."  
  
"Hardly killed." Muttered Draco  
  
"Well seriously injured then. Now you ought to get some rest. I'll be back later, then if you are ok, you may leave"  
  
__Stupid stupid Ginny! Now the whole school will be talking about how Draco Malfoy's ass was saved by a girl. And not just any girl, a bloody **Gryffindor! And not just any Gryffindor…A WEASLEY!  
  
Now she would think that **__she was superior to him. Just because she had somehow saved him. If she thought that he was going to thank her on bent knee she was mistaken. But the annoying thing was that he __did owe her.  
  
Stupid Girl! Why hadn't she just__ let him be hurt/killed. Now there was a bloody situation. Stupid noble Gyrffindors!   
  
He went and stood over her bed. She looked like a red headed angel. With her hair all out and a peacefull look on her face…not that he cared.  
  
__Shit! What if she's dead! Her brothers would kill me!!  
  
"Wake up, please wake up!" he stood and said this for a long time and eventually, Weasley finally did wake up.  
  
"Thank god!" He yelled  
  
~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*  
  
Ginny woke up with a start. She heard someone say "Thank god!"  
She looked up.  
  
"AAAGGGH!!"   
  
It was Malfoy, standing over her. Then she remembered.  
  
"What the hell did you think you were doing, Weasley?!"  
  
"God, you're handsome." She said vaugley, still trying to gain her senses.  
  
He __did look handsome. The usual sneer had left his face. He had looked concerned for a few seconds. She could see his vague shadow. Light was shining from the window behind him, he looked radiant…__  
Look at that body….  
  
"Oh god!" Ginny yelled, finally waking up properly and realising what she was thinking. Draco was standing smirking.  
  
"What?!" She said seeing the look on his face  
  
"You don't remember what you just said a few seconds ago...?"  
  
"No…I woke up, you yelled at me, I said something…"  
  
"You said, and I quote "God, you're handsome." "  
  
"Oh. Well that's a sure sign that I've just been knocked out."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Saying stupid things that aren't true"  
   
Ginny was trying to gain control of the conversation. She had a headache and felt stupid. She had just said something really stupid to Malfoy, Ron would go mad if he heard about that…  
  
"I'll have you know that a lot of girls __do think I am handsome so shut up. You clearly meant what you said, but it's ok. I'm used to it…"  
  
__God, what a stuck up prat…  
  
"You are forgetting I just saved your life!" She felt the need to make him feel in her debt…  
  
"Yeah! So what the hell did you think you were doing?! I didn't __want your help, Weasley. Why couldn't you just let me be knocked out by myself? Why can't you mind your own business?!"_

  
  
"But you might have-"  
  
"Look! What's it to you?! Why do you care? You think I would do the same for you? Well you're wrong. I'm _not the noble Potter. For all you know I could have watched you die without batting an eyelid!"  
  
"Well, I can't help the fact that I'm nice. You should be gratefull! You ought to be! But you're not because you're brilliant __handsome Malfoy. Mr – I- am – better – than – everyone - else. Face it. You should thank me but you're so scared that someone was nice to you that you yell at them!"  
  
"Right, Weasley. Just listen to this, stay out of my life! You should have let me be injured but __no you have to be all NOBLE and start a big situation! Now I feel like I am in your debt and a Malfoy will NOT be owing a Weasley! Never. Save. My. Life. Again. Understood?"  
  
Ginny watched, feeling very strange and stupid as Malfoy swaggered out of the hospital wing.  
  
 Later that day she received an owl.  
  
** Weasley, Ok I'm sorry for what I said, And I am not saying this again so you better appreciate this! Thank you for saving my life even though it was stupid of you and none of your business and I would be a lot happier if you had left me alone…meet me in the dungeons, near the portrait of the strange guy with the beard, I need to talk to you. Be there at 8. Do not be late, I don't like being kept waiting,  
The ever-handsome Draco Malfoy.  
  
Ginny almost laughed, that was probably as close as she was going to get to a thank you from that prat, she might as well accept the fact that he was not going to be eternally grateful…  
  
She pulled out her diary. It was in her school bag, which someone had been kind enough to put by her hospital bed. It was a red hard backed notebook that Bill had given her, it had taken her a long time to write in it, mainly because of what happened the last time she had a diary…  
****  
Dear Diary,   
I'm still in the hospital wing, I still feel like an idiot. I told Malfoy that he was handsome…ok it might be kind of true but after everything he has done to Ron I don't want to be nice to him. It was the way he was standing, looking like an angel, a fallen angel perhaps but an angel none the less. It's very ironic that he is more of a devil.  
I still can't believe I saved him. I know why I did it and that makes it even more embarrassing and stupid. Most people will think that it is because I am a noble Gryffindor, chivalry and all that ****but it was because I thought that the story would get back to Harry who would think I'm really brave. I am so stupid! All I've done is start a lot of rumours about me and Malfoy. Harry hasn't even visited me yet. I guess I thought he would think: "****wow! Ginny is so brave, I love her" And then I would wake up with him by my hospital bed, holding my hand. Instead I woke up with stupid Malfoy yelling at me for saving his life and then I said the daftest thing ever! "God you're handsome" He must think I am so daft…I hope Harry doesn't find out what I said, but knowing Malfoy he'll tell him next time he sees him…  
Why is my life so bad? I hope Madame Pomfrey lets me leave the hospital wing soon,she's been in a bad mood because Malfoy walked out when he shouldn't have so now she won't let me leave.  
  
Ginny slipped her diary back into her bag and called for Madame Pomfrey.  
  
"Can I leave now, pleeeaase?"  
  
" I suppose so, you seem to be ok now but if you feel dizzy or sick then come back at once. Even if it's a headache, and don't walk about on your own incase you faint. I think you'll be ok though."  
  
Feeling relieved, Ginny ran up to Gryffindor tower, she gave the password (Rictusempra) and entered.   
  
"Ginny! Brilliant! You're out!"   
Within a few minutes Jenna, Julia, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Colin and a few other 6th years were gathered around Ginny.  
  
"We were so worried!" said Harry  
  
**__Yeah, just not enough to visit me…  
  
"We were going to go and see you if you weren't out this evening" said Ron "But seeing as you are, I think we're going to visit Hagrid. See you, Gin" He walked out the portrait hole followed by Harry and Hermione, who patted Ginny's shoulder in what she must have thought was a reassuring way  
  
"Hey, sorry we didn't visit you, we were swamped with homework." Jenna looked guilty.  
  
"Oh." Ginny looked at her watch. Ten to eight. "Hey, I'm going."  
  
"What? Where?"  
  
"Just out for a walk. I need to think."  
  
"Are you…annoyed at us?"  
  
"No..no, I'll see you." Ginny said running out of the common room before they offered to go with her.  
  
She didn't know why she didn't want to tell her friends where she was going. She didn't even know why she was going but she didn't actually have anything better to do anyway.  
15 minutes later she arrived down in the dungeons.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Draco leaned against the dungeon wall. __She better turn up. Draco had never ever been stood up and he didn't intend to be.   
  
She arrived 5 minutes later, looking slightly breathless, like she had been running. She probably had, scared of what he would do to her if she wasn't on time.  
  
"You're late." He drawled, enjoying the look of irritation on her face.  
  
"Follow me." He said, before she had the chance to talk.  
  
He led her to a room the Slytherins sometimes used for card games and gambling, away from all the teachers' offices.  
  
"We need to talk, Weasley."**   
   
"What about?" Ginny felt slightly worried. She had never had a normal, nice friendly   
conversation with Malfoy and somehow she didn't think this would be an exception.  
  
"You interfered with my life! You saved me when you shouldn't have…"  
  
"Come on, Malfoy! You must be the only guy in the whole school who wouldn't be grateful at not getting squashed like a bug by a falling suit of armour! Believe me if I could go back in time I would and wouldn't save you, but I can't, which is unfortunate because with the way I'm feeling right now I would probably enjoy watching you being flattened!"  
  
Draco was shocked. He hadn't expected this response. **__Wow! Little Weasley has a temper…who would've thought!?!  
  
"Malfoy? Are you listening to me? I'm sorry I didn't let you get crushed to pieces but what do you want me to do about it?!"  
  
He paused and folded his arms.  
  
 "Let's make it even, Weasley, let's make it even."__  
  
  
  
**A/N: That's it for now. Next chapter is where it gets better, Thanks to all the wonderful people who reviewed! Thank you everyone who read this and please please review! It makes me happy :) Thanks to :  
Dreamoftf : I'm glad you liked the argument! I'm trying to keep Draco and Ginny in character as much as possible. Thanks!  
****Lucia Dreams : Thanks for that idea! I might put some stuff about all the rumours going round the school in the next chapter. Thanks for reviewing.**_

**Missy : Well, there was the next chapter, thanks!  
****Rubyjuls1722 : Sorry about the cliff, I couldn't resist!****  
Lady Godiva : Thanks! I love your reviews! They're always so nice!  
****Shadun :  I hope this chapter explained some stuff. Thanks for reviewing!  
****Crystal**** : Sorry for not updating as quickly as I would have liked,  hopefully I'll get the next chapter in pretty quick.  
****Stokely : Thanks I'm glad you think it's cool   
****Mary : Thank you  
****Vie : Yeah, Draco really wasn't very nice in saying that! Thanks for reviewing  
****Eclipse2003: Don't worry Draco is going to get better.  
****Beccs: Thanks!  
****ALE01 : Thanks for reviewing, glad you liked it!  
****Angle-Hiragizawa32 ****: Hey, sorry for making you wait so long for the next chapter, but it's good people want me to continue.  
****Sexy-sassy-sweety : Thanks! Hopefully the story will continue to get better as I do more chapters  
****Miah Tolensky : You've got that right! But Draco will get nicer, I promise.  
****Daemon Sorceress : Thanks!! Yay! It's cool that you think it's good! I love reviews like yours!  
****Tifa : Thanks!  
****Txt-eva : yeah I think Draco can choose his words very well, especially in an argument…thanks for reviewing.  
****Frost JP : Wow! I'm flattered. I'm not a real writer as much as I would like to be!  
****Dracosbabygirl: Thanks, I was pretty pleased with that last chapter, I hope you thought this one was just as good :)  
****Anon : I don't think anyone knows whether Blaise is a guy or a girl (if anyone does please tell me) But I just decided to make them a girl because it fitted best with my story.  
****Eloopy : hey, I've always thought Draco was pretty good at noticing things, like the way he's good at getting Harry and Ron into trouble(like the dragon thing), he probably noticed that Ginny was upset because he wanted to tease her about it. Thanks!  
****Rei.K : I agree! I love Draco…he's great  
****Dark Girl : Thanks for liking this!  
****Sakura1287: Ginny and Draco is my favourite too. It's just so interesting and has a lot to write about it. I love your story Fire and Ice. It's great!!**

**  
  
**


	5. Mission Impossible

**(A/N)Woooo! 65 reviews!!!*jumps up and down yelling "65 reviews, 65 reviews!"* Thank you everyone who's reading this and especial thanks to the people who have reviewed and those of you about to review! *pointed look*  Here's Chapter 5, I know it took ages, I've been reading loads of fics rather than writing my own one…,Chapter 6 will be up sooner(depending on how many reviews I get…).  
  
**Disclaimer : I really feel like saying : Look at the 1st chapter (or 2nd or 3rd or 4th) and see the Disclaimer there, but seeing as I really don't want to get sued here's the disclaimer again, just in case: This is not mine!!! The (good) characters and places etc allll belong to JK Rowling, I only own the random characters I stuck in (and the plot)  
  
**This Chapter is dedicated to Purple Haze, my best friend x 56, for continually asking me to update, Rock on.  
  
  
**Chapter 5 – Deals and Dares  
  
 "S-sorry?" Ginny felt ashamed of her outburst and was terrified at what Draco might get her to do for him. _Let's make it even; what did he define as even?  
  
 "I said: Let's make it even."  
  
 "I do-"  
  
"What do you want me to do for you, Weasley?"  
  
He was offering to do something for her! Not the other way round. Ginny had never felt so relieved in her life.  
  
"Are you joking?!"  
  
"No, I am not bloody joking. How hard is this, Weasley, you "saved me" (damn you) and I do not want to be in your debt so I will do something for you."  
  
Ginny had never seen this side of Draco before and had trouble hiding her amazement. Since when did Malfoy do things for other people? Wasn't his main hobby tormenting stupid little Gryffindors like her that got trapped in his net?  
  
"I do have my pride." Draco said after they had remained in silence for 5 minutes.  
  
_Yeah, I can tell you have pride, you stuck up prat._ Ginny thought to herself.  
  
 "Malfoys do not owe people, especially not Weasleys. So what do you want? Money?"__  
  
I have him in such a good position Ginny nearly grinned.  
  
"No…I don't think I want money…"  
  
"What? Why not? You're _poor_"  
  
"I just want something that isn't money…this is a once in a lifetime opportunity…"  
  
Ginny was starting to enjoy herself; it wasn't every day that you had Malfoy at your mercy. She knew a lot of girls in the school would kill for this opportunity and now _she_ had Draco Malfoy at her mercy.  
  
Draco glared at her.  
  
"Don't get any ideas, Weasley, I'm not going out with you, I'm not-"  
_  
 Is he trying to say there's something wrong with me?_  
  
"You think I want to go out with you?"   
  
Ginny started giggling. The look on his face!  
  
"You called me handsome-"  
  
Ginny laughed even more. It wasn't really that funny, but it sure was amusing to watch Mr-I-Am-Ice trying not to lose his cool.  
  
After listening to Ginny's hysteric laughter for a few minutes Draco snapped.  
  
"Look, cut the crap, Weasley, what do you want?"  
  
 Ginny thought for a while. There was a lot she could ask of him. He was rich, she was poor, he was popular, she was not, he was clever, and she was just scraping by.  
  
She could ask for money and have a full purse for once, just like her friends. She could do with some money, that way she could buy new quills or books or even robes, depending on how much pride Malfoy had.  
  
Then she had an idea and without think it through she said:   
  
"I want you to be nice to Harry and my brother."  
  
"What?!?! I am not being nice to Weasel and your boyfriend!!" Draco was incredulous.  
  
"He's not my boyfriend!" Ginny yelled before she could stop herself.  
  
"Touchy, are we? Little Weasley isn't good enough for Perfect Potter…" Draco smirked.  
  
Ginny felt upset, he was still in her debt, who was he to criticize her. The thing that was getting to her was the fact that Malfoy was right, she __wasn't good enough for Harry and in his eyes she never would be. Harry Potter needed a popular pretty girl who would be on the sidelines for whenever she was needed; Ginny wasn't a girl like that.  
  
"Look, that's the deal. And you have to go out of your way to be nice for a month or you can be in my debt forever and ever and eve-"  
Draco stood silently and thought for a minute.  
  
"Does this include being nice to Mudblood?"  
  
"Her name's Hermione." Ginny said through gritted teeth "And yes, it does."  
  
She extended her arm, and Draco shook her hand.  
  
"Right, that's it, a month of being nice to the Dream Team and then once again all Malfoys are superior to all Weasleys."  
  
"Ah, so you're saying that right now I am superior to you…"Ginny said.  
  
"NO!"  
  
"It sounded like it…"  
  
"Do me a favour and piss off, Weasley. Go off to your common room or something…"Draco glared at her and Ginny, feeling slightly frightened of him (he looked really mad) hurried off to Gryffindor tower.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Draco felt furious with himself. He should have offered Weasley money straight out, he shouldn't have bloody _asked_ her what she wanted.   
  
_Could I have done something more stupid if I'd **tried**?  
_  
Draco never showed it but he did sometimes get angry with himself.   
  
It took a few minutes for Draco to convince himself that it was all Weasley's fault. How was he meant to know that she would ask for something stupid? That's right, the situation he was in was nothing to do with him really. It was meddling Weasley, stupid little Weasley that had to ask for something as ridiculous as she was.  
  
Draco paced his common room, running his hands through his hair in frustration. There was no way to get out of it, he had shaken on it and breaking a Wizard deal had serious consequences.  
  
"Draco, what's wrong?" Crabbe asked, almost sounding concerned.  
  
"I've just sold my soul to the devil." Draco said grimly.  
  
"Really?"  
  
_Just about_  
  
"No, it was a joke." Draco felt too frustrated (with Weasley) to get annoyed.  
  
"Oh-…"  
  
"DRACO!! Where have you been all day?" Pansy threw herself at him.  
  
"Out."  
  
That was true, after walking out of the hospital wing, Draco had wandered about the grounds, not wanting to have to speak to all the people desperate to know what was going on with him and Weasley. Then he had met _her_, the cause of all his problems, down in the dungeons and practically sold his life away for the next month.  
   
Draco removed Pansy's arms, which were firmly planted around his waist and walked over to Blaise.  
  
"Hey, honey, Miss me?" Blaise grinned.  
  
"You're talking to me again." Draco smirked.  
  
"Never stopped talking to you, anyway I was worried about you. We all were."  
  
Draco couldn't help a sarcastic laugh escaping his lips.  
  
"I doubt it. Since when did my fellow Slytherins care about me?"  
  
"They do really…"   
  
"No, they don't. They respect me, but they don't care and that's the way I like it."  
  
_That's how I like it.  
  
_~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
On her way back to the tower Ginny wondered if she had done the right thing.  
  
 She could easily have gotten money, but instead she had done something for Harry. Harry who didn't care about her and asked for her help when he asked other girls out. She still couldn't get rid of the disappointment that had built up in her, Stupid dance! She only had a few weeks to find a partner now! And she doubted that would happen. Why would anyone _want_ to go with her?   
  
She sneaked past her friends and ran up into her dorm and collapsed on her bed in tears.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
**(A/N – Ok, this bit might be a bit confusing, all the bits in italics are Draco's thoughts and things that he wants to say, hope that makes it clear what's happening.)**  
  
Draco was still not in a good mood. Damn Weasley! Why couldn't she have asked for money like any normal poor person!! He had asked himself this all night and still couldn't come up with a conclusion.  
  
When he got to Potions he saw Weasley and Potter sitting at their desks. Weasley had sent him an owl to say that he had to say "hello" in a civil manner whenever he saw Potter.  
  
_Ok, here goes…  
  
_"Hello, Harry." He said between gritted teeth. This was going to be impossible! He couldn't even have a civilised conversation with Potter, let alone be _nice_ to him!  
  
"What do you want, Malfoy?" Weasley said scathingly.  
  
_Was I talking to you??? _  
  
"I was just saying hello. It's a nice day isn't it…?"  
  
Potter and Weasley looked gobsmacked.  
  
_Ha! Didn't expect that did you?_  
  
"Oh, Hermione!" Draco cried. "It's great to see you, hon, need any help with your homework?" He winked at her.  
  
Weasley growled. "What are you playing at, Malfoy?"  
  
_I have no idea, what **am I doing?**_  
  
"Yeah, leave" said Potter.  
  
"Aw! I was just being nice to my _darling_ friends! Well if you need anything then you know where I am, See you."  
  
_Darling friends?___ Where the hell did that come from?  
  
Harry's jaw dropped.  
  
Draco walked to his desk smirking, He had gotten the better of that Weasley girl. He _was_ being nice to Potter, he was just being slightly sarcastic about it.   
  
He had ended up annoying them more than usual. He could practically see their brains working, trying to work out what he was doing… __Let them wonder, Draco Malfoy was going to get some fun out of this…  
  
  
"Here, Potter, let me help you make your Wiggenweld potion." Draco grinned.  
  
"Eh…no I'm ok thanks…"  
  
_No you're not, it's all wrong, thank god we don't rely on you to make Healing Potions for us, your stupid gamekeeper friend could probably have done a better job._  
  
**(A/N: Draco really doesn't like Hagrid…)  
  
**"You sure you don't need help? What about you, honey?"  
Draco leaned in close to Hermione and made Ron boil with rage.  
  
"We don't want your help!!! Go away."  
  
_You don't want my help but you sure as hell need it…_  
  
"Ok…suit yourself."  
  
Snape gave Draco a curious look.  
  
"Is Potter annoying you, Draco?"  
  
"No…I'm just offering to help him. Didn't you know? We're best friends now."  
  
Snape noticed the evil glint in Malfoy's eye, even if Harry didn't.  
  
"Very well." He walked off.  
  
Harry made a noise like a diseased chicken.  
  
"Best friends??!?! Since when? I don't know what you're up to Malfoy but-"___

  
"You really think that much of me?Aw, I'm hurt, Harry."  
  
"Look, just piss off!" Ron yelled. "Or I'll make you!"  
  
_Sure! I could take you in a fight easily…_  
  
"Ok! Ok!"  
  
At lunch time Draco sat next to Blaise, enjoying listening to her grovelling.  
  
"I mean, when I saw that you had been knocked out, I felt so guilty! Imagine if you had died just after we were arguing!"  
  
She had been talking like this all last night as well.  
  
"It's ok, Blaise." Draco said faking a sympathetic tone.  
  
Once again Zabini was wrapped around his finger.  
  
"Nice display in Potions, Malfoy!" said Millicent Bullstrode.  
  


"Yeah, I reckon you've found a new way to annoy the Gryffindors!" Said a 5th year who Draco didn't know.  
  
"Yeah, great idea, Malfoy!"  
  
Draco smirked. "What can I say, I'm a genius"  
  
  
For the rest of that day all of the Slytherins were overly nice to the Gryffindors and it was having a great effect.   
  
The Gryffindors were becoming extremely irritated and suspicious, and the Slytherins were getting a great laugh out of being sarcastically nice.  
  
Draco sat in his common room, marvelling at his brilliance. In a few more days the Gryffindors were going to snap. They were obviously wondering what the Slytherins were up to. Some Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws had noticed something was happening and even the boring teachers were curious.  
  
Draco had started on his Herbology homework when he received an owl.  
  
**Malfoy,  
          I don't know what you've started but Harry and Ron are more annoyed than ever. We need to sort this out. Shall I meet you in the same place as before?  
             Ginny.  
  
**He picked up a quill and wrote :  
  
**Weasley,  
            I see no problem, I've been doing what you told me to, it's not my fault that _some people take kindness the wrong way. Maybe you shouldn't ask for things you don't want.  
    The-ever-brilliant-and- SUPERIOR- Malfoy (who Weasley called handsome)  
  
_**He smirked, that would annoy her. Sure enough, ten minutes later:   
  
**To-the-stuck-up–moron-who-thinks-he–is-great,  
                                                                              I'm serious, Malfoy. Don't insult Harry and Ron, and come down and meet me as soon as you get this, same place as last time.   
Ginny (who (even) Malfoy said was superior to him)   
  
**Draco rolled his eyes. He was not a moron and he wasn't stuck up either! Well not really…._I did not say she was superior!  
  
_He sighed and made his way to the portrait where Weasley was waiting.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~***  
(A/n this bit now skips back to the beginning of the day from Ginny's perspective)   
  
Ginny woke up that morning with red eyes and her hair sticking to her face. She looked in the mirror and grimaced.****Great,**** really attractive…  
  
Her day got distinctly worse when she sat next to Ron and Harry at lunch.  
  
**

"….bloody Malfoy!" Harry said  
  


"I know! What's he playing at?" Ron moaned.  
  


"He's trying to be nice…"  
  


"NO!! He was being sarcastic, Hermione!! He called you honey!!" Ron yelled.  
  


"I think he's doing it to annoy us…"Harry commented.  
  


No one noticed Ginny.  
  


"Yeah, and to be honest it IS really annoying, more annoying than when he's 

_not_ being nice!"  
  


_Shit, what have I done?  
_  
  


At dinner Ginny found out that things had gone even further.  
  


"You won't believe what happened!" Ron told Ginny, while he was cutting his steak.  
  


"What?" Ginny began to feel uneasy; she was willing to bet her lifesavings that it was to do with Malfoy.  
  


"ALL the Slytherins are being nice now! Malfoy's got them all at it! And it's bloody annoying!"  
  


Ginny spat out her pumpkin juice.  
  


"Surely it's a good thing that the houses are getting on…" Hermione began.  
  


"NO! Never in my 7 years here have the Slytherins been nice! They're being sarcastic about it….It's just _wrong_"  
  


Ginny felt guilty. It was her fault that the whole of 7th year were suffering….she looked around the hall and her eyes fell on Malfoy. He was sitting there, looking smug and pleased with himself.  
  


Correction…it was _Malfoy's fault, He'd done this just to annoy her. She'd speak to him about this, and make him fix it. After all, he _was_ in her debt…She started writing a letter.  
  
  
_

Draco showed up at the painting after she had waited for ten minutes.  
  
"You're late" she said  
  


"You never stated an exact time" Draco said with his trademark smirk™.  
  


Ginny glared at him.  
  


"Malfoy, what did you do?"  
  
"What?! I was nice! Like you told me to be."  
  
"You know what I mean, they're not happy with you. I meant for you to be nice so that they're not unhappy. You know that I did."  
  
"What, I'm meant to read your twisted little mind?" Draco leaned against the wall.  
  
Ginny didn't answer.  
  
  
"Are you all upset that your plan to get Potter to love you backfired?"  
  
"It's not about that…"  
  
Draco raised his eyebrow™  
  
"Oh really?"  
  
"What's it to you? Harry and I are just friends and- wait, this isn't what I wanted to talk to you about!"

  
"Well why did you start talking about it then?"  
  
_God, he's impossible, I bet Crabbe and Goyle are only his friends because they're too thick to work out when he's insulting them…  
  
_"Look, Malfoy. Just be serious, ok? Tell all your friends to stop being like that to-"  
  
"We're being nice!" Malfoy said in an innocent voice.  
  
Ginny looked sceptical.  
  
"Ok, I'll tell them all to stop it."  
  
"Ok, thank-"  
  
"On one condition."  
  
Ginny narrowed her eyes and Draco leant over and whispered something in her ear.  
  
"Deal?"  
  
"No! I'm not doing that!"  
  
"Ok, suit yourself, I hope Potter gets used to the idea of being my 'friend' "  
  
"I-"  
  
"So it's a deal then?"  
  
"Deal" Ginny said reluctantly.  
  
Draco walked off, leaving Ginny standing there with a sense of dread, what had she gotten herself into? 

  
**_  
  
  
_**

_*A/N__*: Mwahahhaa- I'm leaving it there *grins***** Please don't hate me, you know you love Cliffhangers really! What? You don't?? Well you'll just have to review to make me want to update really soon. Chapter 6 will be up very very soon……if I get enough reviews ~evil laugh~ Ok I bet no one can follow this, so I'll just finish by saying : REVIEW!  
  
And thanks to these amazing people that reviewed :  
  
  
****_

    
**basketcase**: Thanks! I love Draco Ginny fics too, they're always so interesting compared to a lot of other Harry Potter ones  
**Missy**: Er, sorry about this CLiffhanger *looks ashamed***** But don't worry Chapter 6 will be here soon, thanks for your lovely review  
**Miah**** Tolensky: Yep, Draco should take your advice, Ginny was pretty nice in this chapter but next time he annoys her…  
**CiNdY**: Aww, you're soo nice! I'm glad you like it!  
**Crystal**: Sorry for the slow update, ta for reviewing   
**(spookycatz84@aol.com)**: Thanks! Who's your cousin? Have they reviewed this? It's great knowing people are recommending this (hint hint: tell all your friends to read this) Have I converted you into a Draco/Ginny shipper? I hope so :D  
**stokely**: Hey, I got it up for you to read when you get back, Hope you like!  
**Miss Black**: Well it wasn't quite after the sun went down…but still it's here! *grins* thanks for reviewing!  
**tigereyes320**: Thank you, Thank you.  
**Vie**: Thanks! I hope this chapter was interesting :) Glad you like my story!  
**RenDeviL**: Yep, that's Draco alright, but, hell, I love him anyway! Who can resist that Malfoy charm?  
**OpalKoboi**: Yay! Thanks!  
Daemon Sorceress: Thanks for reviewing  
**sAnDiE**: Hey, what was the thing about boxes…? Does my story look funny? IS the scripting all weird? If it is let me know and I'll fix it. Thanks  
**Lolita**: :) You like it? Cooool. Thanks!  
**Shadun**: I'm glad it explained stuff, I was worried everyone would still be a bit confused, thanks for reviewing  
**Orian**: Yasssss, I think we all love Draco! You put up with my obsession well! Talk to ya later!  
**Melanie Pointe**: THANKS! I've been trying pretty hard to get Draco in character, Ginny's hard because we don't really know a lot about her!  
**reanne080**: Thanks for reviewing and for adding me to your favourites!  
  
And a **BIG THANKS** to everyone who added me to their favourites list! It's much appreciated!   
  
  
  
  
  
**


	6. Of Cloudless Climes and Starry Skies

_A/N: Well here we are, another chapter, THANKS FOR REVIEWING! You guys totally ROCK! Hope you like this chapter, it didn't really work out as I hoped and I'm really worried about Draco being out of character. Enjoy!_   
  
Disclaimer: Not mine, wish it was, but it isn't, except the Plot. The rest belongs to….Jk Rowling ( bet that was a big shock)  
  
**This chapter is dedicated to all Draco and Tom Felton lovers, because I am sick of my friends telling me I am sad for liking him, (according to them I'm obsessed.) So this is for all the people like me who love that guy!**  
  
  
Chapter six – Of Cloudless Climes and Starry Skies  
  
Draco woke up the next morning feeling unusually cheerful. Today was going to be a great laugh.  
  
He got ready and made his way down to breakfast, slipping into a seat next to Blaise.  
  
_The dance is coming up, time to get back to work.  
  
_He was soon talking to Blaise and some other Slytherin girls. They were hanging on every word he said. And it was irritating him.  
  
_Why is this annoying me? It never used to. I used to like being the centre of attention.  
  
_Suddenly it all seemed a bit shallow.  
  
Draco brushed his feelings off and put his arm around Blaise, while he looked around to see who was watching.  
  
Some Slytherins were glaring at Blaise, as well as a lot of the Hufflepuff girls. A few Ravenclaws looked at him, but the majority were engrossed in serious conversation.   
Draco rolled his eyes and put his other arm around Blaise. She turned in her seat so that she was facing him.  
  
_Now is as good a time as any.  
  
_He leaned in and brushed his lips against hers, she opened them to let his tongue in and Draco kissed her, very aware of his audience.  
  
As they broke away and Draco looked around the Great Hall again. He caught the eyes of the youngest Weasley. He raised his eyebrow at her and she looked away blushing.  
  
Blaise moved in on Draco to kiss him again, but he found himself pushing her away.  
  
He left his seat and walked outside into the grounds.  
  
He sighed. He hadn't expected Blaise to kiss in the way that she did, there was no passion involved, it was rough and just for the hell of it.  
  
He felt shallow for kissing a girl to get attention.  
  
_What the hell is wrong with me?  
  
_ Blaise would do, true there was no love involved, but there was lust and that was enough.  
  
Draco smirked and scorned at the idea of love.  
  
_Love, who needs love?  
  
_~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Ginny woke up, feeling, once again, terrible.  
  
_God, not another day.__  
  
Jenna and Julia weren't awake yet.  
  
She brought out her diary and started to write:   
  
**Dear Diary,  
                     I hate Malfoy! I hate hate hate hate hate hate him! You will not believe what has happened! **__He owed _Me_ but somehow he managed to twist it so that I am doing stuff for his amusement! I'm taking a potion today. A potion that will make me say what I think when I think it! This could be so embarrassing! And guess why I'm doing this…? Yep, for Harry. Why do I love him so much??? Why am I doing things for him which I will never get credit for? I don't know, I really don't. But here I am, ready to meet Malfoy after Breakfast so I can take his stupid potion. I just hope this can't go too wrong; it's has been a terrible week.  
  
After breakfast, Ginny went out into the grounds, Malfoy was already there, waiting. When he saw her he grinned evilly.  
  
_He has a kind of cute grin! …No! Ginny, what are you thinking? This is Malfoy!  
  
_"You came." He said when she reached him.  
  
"It's not like I had a choice." Ginny muttered. "So what is going to happen exactly?"   
  
"You're going to take this." Malfoy shook a little bottle, green of course, in Ginny's face.   
"And provide me with hours of entertainment, well 3 hours to be exact."  
  
"Yeah but what does it do? Is it like a truth potion? All I know is that it makes you say stuff that you think."  
  
Malfoy smirked. "You don't know much do you, Weasel?"  
  
Ginny glared at him and he quickly carried on.  
  
 "It won't make you say __everything you think, just the strong feelings you have like when you're really angry or sad or "passionate" about something. And it will only be when you have thoughts about people who are with you at that moment."  
  
Ginny sighed, it wasn't as bad as she thought it would be then, she would only say people the stuff she thought about them.  
  
_Just avoid Harry today; actually I'm going to avoid everyone…  
  
_"Let's get this over with then."   
  
Ginny took the potion off Malfoy.  
  
_He's probably poisoned it_  
  
It was cold and had a funny taste, it was bitter and sweet at the same time.  
  
"I hate you, Malfoy for making me drink this, you deserve to burn in hell for making me do this." Ginny said.  
  
_Shit! I said that outloud!!  
  
_Malfoy smirked again. "Yeah, but you think I'm handsome don't you?"  
  
"Yes, very. You're probably the best looking guy in the school although Ron would kill me for saying that. It's a shame you don't have Harry's personality, then you would be perfect." Ginny felt herself saying involuntary.  
  
Her eyes widened at what she had just said and she ran off to the castle before she said anything else, leaving Malfoy standing there in hysterics.  
  
  
  
Ginny tried to avoid as many people as possible but nothing could stop her saying things to teachers, during classes.   
  
She entered Potions, a few seconds after class had started.  
  
 "You are late, Weasley, 5 points off Gryffindor."  
  
Ginny sat down and said "That sucks ass. It's so unfair, You wanna know why I was late? Because of stupid Malfoy, your favourite pupil. I hate you, you slimy git, you take points off for no reason and you're really unfair. You're a bully and pick on the pupils who aren't brave enough to say anything back."  
  
_Oh shit, no no no no no!!! I hate Malfoy!  
  
_Snape went very pale and looked angrier than Ginny had ever seen him. He approached her desk and towered over her until she was cowering.  
  
"Weasley. 50 points off Gryffindor for your cheek. You will report to the dungeons tomorrow night to receive your detention."  
  
"I thought as much, I guess that's what you get for trying to get a stupid git to be fair."  
  
Ginny prayed that Snape would walk away before she said anything else. Much to her relief, he did.  
  
She managed to get the whole 3 hours of the Potion with great difficulty. She insulted McGonagall but thankfully she didn't get into too much trouble for that, she also said a few comments that her friends got annoyed at.  
  
The worst thing happened when there was only 5 minutes left for the effects of the Potion to wear off.  
  
 It was in-between classes. She only had Herbology left to go and then her classes were over for the day. Harry approached her.  
  
"Hey, Gin. How are you?"  
  
 "Pretty shit thanks to you, I think that you and Malfoy have driven me to suicide between you, congratulations."  
  
_Oh no! This is not happening!  
  
_Harry looked confused "Are you ok, Ginny?"  
  
 "No I'm not and do you want to know why? Because you led me on and made me think that you loved me while all the time you wanted to go out with someone else!!! How do you think that made me feel? I love you Harry. This is not some stupid crush, this is the real thing! You have broken my heart."  
  
Harry couldn't speak.  
  
_Oh my god! What have I done? My life is falling apart.  
  
_Ginny turned and ran, not knowing where she was going, just that she wanted to get away from Harry. As far away as possible.  
  
She ran outside, it was dark, she ran as far as she could, and sinking below a tree, she cried her heart out.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
After he had walked around the grounds, Draco resumed a position under a tree and waited for Weasley. She arrived a few minutes later, she was shaking and Draco felt slightly guilty, before he pushed all regretful thoughts out of his mind.  
  
He watched her wince while she drunk it and he knew that it had worked when she insulted him.  
  
_Now for some fun…  
_   
He asked her if she thought he was handsome and she said that she did, then she ran away.  
  
_Ha! I knew she thought that!_  
  
Draco laughed, the first time he had laughed properly in days.  
  
Much to his annoyance, Draco didn't get the chance to laugh at Weasley again until he saw her in the corridors, just before his last class.  
  
She was talking to Potter, and there was a large crowd gathered round them.  
  
 "…I love you Harry. This is not some stupid crush, this is the real thing! You have broken my heart."  
  
She ran off in tears and Draco felt really bad.  
  
_She saved my life, I've ruined hers. Wait! She's a WEASLEY! Who cares? Serves Potter right anyway, he won't be able to forget this in a while.  
  
_~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
  
"What's with you?"_  
  
_"What?" Draco snapped.  
  
"You keep staring at the Gryffindor table."  
  
Draco was sitting next to Blaise at dinner, Blaise was being really annoying.  
  
"I am not."  
  
He was though, he kept looking to see if Weasley was there, he couldn't help it, he felt really bad. His feelings of guilt increased when he saw that she wasn't at dinner.  
  
"I have to go…" He muttered and pushed his chair away.  
  
"Why?"  
  
Draco just raised his eyebrow and walked off.  
  
_Where would I go if I was Weasley? Hope she's not in her dorm…  
  
_Thinking the grounds was the best bet, Draco walked about outside until he eventually found Weasley, under a tree.  
  
She was lying, face down with her head in her arms, her long wavey hair was spread over her back and was touching the ground, the moonlight was shining on her, making her skin look like marble.  
  
He took a deep breath "You might want to get up from the grounds, you'll ruin your robes, and I doubt that you can afford new ones."_

_  
Shit! Why did I say that?  
  
_Her head shot up, her eyes were shining with tears and hate, her face was all red, she really had been crying for a long time…  
  
"How dare you!! I hate you! You've just ruined my life and now you have the nerve to come and insult me! Leave me alone, never come near me again, you're the most foul evil bastard I've ever met!"  
  
"I thought the potion would have worn off by now."  
  
"It has, I said that of my own accord you stupid git."  
  
_Wow she has guts!  
  
_She sat up and leaned against the tree, hugging her knees.  
  
Draco sat down next to her.  
  
"I uh-"  
  
"You're still here? What do you want?"  
  
_Yeah, what **do I want?**_  
  
Then he realised, he wanted to apologise, for the first time in his life ever.  
  
_I'm doing this for me! I'm only doing it so I feel better  
  
_He felt so bad after what he had done to her, so it was for his own sake that he wanted to say sorry, so that he would feel fine and could go back to being an "evil bastard" again.  
  
"I'm sorry." He muttered.  
  
She looked up at him, the hint of a smile on her face.  
  
"Huh? I didn't hear you, what did you say?"  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
"You have to speak up a bit, I still can't hear you…"  
  
"I said I'm sorry!" Draco said, feeling slightly irritated. He had never said sorry in his life, and the one time he decided to, the person he was apologising to wasn't co-operating  
  
"Huh?" she said, this time she was deffinatley grinning.  
  
"I'm SORRY, SORRY, SORRY, SORRY! Hear me??? I'm bloody SORRY!!!" Draco got on his knees and started saying really sarcastically "Can you ever forgive me, your   
Highness? Shall I leave and be miserable for ever now because you won't accept my apology?"  
  
That did it, she burst out laughing.  
  
She laughed…  
  
and laughed…

  
And laughed…  
  
and laughed….  
  
"Eh.. you can stop laughing now…it wasn't meant to be **that** funny…"  
  
"You were down on your knees!!!"  
  
"Yeah, well it's the first and last time that will happen." Draco said sulkily.  
  
She looked at him with a quizzical look on her face. "Ha! I'll see about that!"  
  
And she turned around so that she wasn't facing him.  
  
"Now go away, I hate you."  
  
Draco smirked, it was all a pretence to get him to apologise again.  
  
"I've said I'm sorry."  
  
"You think that makes it all better? I've just had the worst day of my life, EVER! I got detention, lost about a hundred house points…Oh yeah, not forgetting, I told Harry that I-I-" She broke off in tears again.  
  
_Oh my God, honestly!! Women…  
  
_"I know, I was there."  
  
She turned round to face him and got to her feet.  
  
"I bet you were! Gave you a great laugh did it? Huh? Was it fun watching me humiliate myself? That's why you came to find me? So you could laugh at me again? Because I don't care! This day could not get any worse, even you couldn't make me feel worse than I already do!"  
  
Draco stood there shocked, he had never dreamed of making her feel this bad, true he had wanted a bit of fun with that potion, but nothing like this. Even Draco Malfoy would feel bad about destroying someone's life.  
He got to his feet.  
  
"And guess what!" she continued. "I'm never going to be able to face Harry again, or the rest of the school!!"  
  
"They'll have forgotten about it tomorrow…"  
  
"That's it? That's the best you have to say? You just ruined my life and all you can say is: "They'll have forgotten by tomorrow"???"  
  
"What do you want me to say?"  
  
He stood right in front of her and looked at her in the eye. She looked away and ran her fingers through her hair.  
  
"I dunno…Sorry? Properly?"  
  
"Ok, I've never done this before so…"(Weasley looked astounded) "I'm really sorry that this went so wrong, I never meant for this to happen. Sure, I admit, I did want to laugh at you, but I didn't want it to go this far. I am really sorry, and I'm evil and mean and-…stuff."  
  
"That's ok, it's not all your fault, I mean, I'm the one that was thinking those things, and…it serves Harry right for the way he treated me."  
  
_Wow! A Gryffindor said something bad about Potter!  
  
_She sunk down to the ground again, Draco did as well.  
  
"I know I'm being stupid but…" She started crying again.  
  
"No one will say anything."  
  
"How do you know that?" She looked at him, her eyes wide and questioning, still brimming with tears.  
  
"I'll beat them up if they do." He said gruffly.  
  
"Wow! You're being nice! I can't believe it…"  
  
_Neither can I! Since when are Malfoy's nice to Weasleys? Come on, Draco, laugh at her and walk away, laugh and walk away, laugh and-  
  
_"It's my fault it happened." he said.  
  
He couldn't do it, he tried to summon up the urge to laugh and be evil but he couldn't.  
  
She leaned against him and cried, and he let her. He stroked her hair and tried to comfort her. He put his arm around her and she cried hysterically onto him.  
  
"It's ok, don't cry…" He said feeling slightly embarrassed.  
  
Half an hour later they were lying on their backs, stargazing, it was a lovely clear night and the stars were very clear.  
  
"That one's Orion."  
  
"How do you know?"  
  
"See those three stars there? That's his belt…"  
  
"Oh, okay. Oh my god!" Weasley jumped up and looked at her watch. "We've been here for three hours!! It's nearly half ten!"  
  
"I spent three hours with a Weasley!" Draco felt appalled.  
  
"Uh huh. Deal with it. I'm going now, maybe I can talk to Harry…Goodnight. Oh, and you owe me, big time. We'll meet here same time tomorrow, say half seven and then I will make you do something for me. To compensate for the mess you've made."  
  
She started walking off up to the castle when she turned round.  
  
"Oh, and Malfoy…try not to ruin anyone else's life."  
  
He smirked. "Ah but tormenting Weasels like you is what I do best. Deal with it."  
  
She half laughed before running off.  
Draco lay back down, gazing up at the stars. What the hell had just happened? Why was he nice to Weasley? Tomorrow things would be back to normal, he decided. He would do whatever it was that Weasley wanted, to make amends, then he would go back to hating her and her family.  
  
But she wasn't actually that bad. For a Weasley.  
  
_God, what's happening to me?  
  
_The ice was beginning to melt.  
  
  
  
**That's it for now, Draco's starting to get nicer, and probably OOC, but I guess this story is about his character developing, So I tried to have the Draco from the books at that starts then he's going to change gradually. What do you think, Was he too nice? Not nice enough? Just right?  
Please Please Review, So I know if you liked that chapter, what was your favourite chapter so far? I think I got the most reviews for 3…  
So REVIEW!**  
_  
**A BIG**** thanks to all these Brilliant people, who reviewed, especially those who have reviewied more than once**_**.**  
  
  
Niori: wow, you find this funny, that's good! I was kinda worried about that, I put this story down as Humour/Romance, so I'm glad you said it was funny! :)  
Morgana : Sorry! That really was a mean cliffhanger that I left it at! This chapter wasn't as bad.  
Crystal: Thank you!   
Heaven's Littlest Angel : Aw I love your name, it's so sweet! Thanks for reviewing!  
Slytherin Mistress : *Hangs head in shame at the awful Cliffhanger* Thanks!  
Dazma: Hey, I love your stories! Pen Pal was amazing! A must read for all Ginny/Draco fans!  
Daemon Sorceress: Well you know what he said now! *Grins*  
Purple Haze : Hey honey! Woooo! I have his email!! (ok everyone else just ignore that, she knows what it means, Honest) There you go, a whole new chapter! Now don't even think about nagging me for the next one!  
Lolita: "Update soon or else" You and Purple Haze should meet each other! That's what she said to me all week! Thanks soo much for reviewing!  
babytigercub14 : Thanks for reviewing!!  
PsychoTeenyBopper: Thanks for the review, that was probably one of the longest ones I've had! Thank you Thank you Thank you  
um... : Yay, Glad you like this!  
cassi0peia: Hey, thanks, that was a really nice review! Draco makes me laugh too, sometimes I think that he's writing this himself, I just kind of sit down to type stuff then before I know it, Draco is saying all this mean stuff to poor Harry, but you gotta love him!  
Missy: Thanks! Again, I'm sorry about the Cliffhanger  
mandy : There you go!! Breathe! Breathe! Lol. Thanks!  
Hannah: Thank you, Glad you like it!


	7. The Three Rules Of Being a Malfoy

**Disclaimer : I've said this many many times  
                    This is JK's , it is not mine's   
  
(thought I'd try a rhyme)  
  
This chapter is finally finished, it doesn't appear to be essential for the Plot line…but I wanted to write it and some of it is relevant. Have fun reading this. And have even more fun reviewing! And thanks to everyone that read this so far.  
                      
_Ok, In chapter 1 I said that Harry asked Cho to the ball, then someone pointed out to me that Cho has left the school by then, so I'm making it Lavender, I'll go back and fix it in chapter one as soon as I can be bothered. So Harry asked Lavender to the ball (Although I don't think he would, but I need an original character for him) And she said yes.  
_  
**~This chapter is dedicated to everyone who has been reviewing regularly~**  
  
Chapter 7 – The Three Rules of Being a Malfoy  
  
"Come on, Harry! Pleeaaase!"  
  
"No."  
  
"Hermione?"  
  
"I've already told you, Ron. I have homework, I won't play Wizard Chess with you."  
  
Ron and Harry and Hermione were sitting in the Gryffindor common room in their usual place by the fire. Ron was trying to persuade Harry and Hermione to play Wizard Chess with him.  
  
"Come on, Hermione! Since when is Potions homework more important than Wizard Chess?" Ron said shooting her a look of disgust.  
  
"Since I want to get a good job! And I don't think I'm going to get that by playing Wizard Chess, Ron!"  
  
"You are so unbelievably boring!" Ron glared at her.  
  
Hermione stood up and slammed her books on the table.  
  
"Well, why do you talk to me then if I'm that boring?"  
  
"I didn't mean it like that! Why do you always take everything I say the wrong bloody way??"Ron yelled right back at her, overturning the table.  
  
"Maybe I take it the wrong way because you say it the wrong way!!" Hermione gathered her books in her arms. "Sorry, Harry, I'm going to study up in my dorm. I think I'll get more work done there!" She gave Ron a dirty look and marched off.  
  
"Oh greeeeaaat!" Ron said sarcastically. "You never stick up for me, Harry! You always say "Don't bring _me into this" That's __reaaally loyal. I'm going for a walk."   
  
He stomped off.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Ginny quickly made her way up the stairs, hoping to catch Harry while Ron and Hermione were doing homework. It was strange, she had been talking to Malfoy and he had actually been almost nice to her. It was embarrassing remembering how she had cried into him, but he had let her.  
  
She ran into Ron while she was walking in the portrait hole.  
  
"Watch it, moron!" He snapped. "Oh, it's you. Come back to yell at Harry more? Do you know how embarrassing that was for me? You were standing yelling in the corridor and people were turning round and saying "Isn't that your sister, Ron?" Do you know how stupid that made me look? I-"  
  
Ginny walked off, not letting him finish. Ron always took things out on her when he was upset and it was really unfair. One of these days she was just going to turn round and punch him in the nose!  
  
To her relief, Harry was on his own. He was sitting in his usual spot, his textbooks lying across the floor.  
  
Ginny approached timidly, pushing her hair out of her eyes.  
  
"Uh…Harry?"  
  
Harry looked up, when he saw her he turned red. "I need to go…" He stood up and turned to walk away up the boys staircase but Ginny placed herself in front of him.  
  
"Please talk to me! I need to explain…" She firmly pushed him back into his seat.   
  
Harry looked really embarrassed and even a bit angry.  
  
"Well ,see about what happened today…I-"  
  
She looked at Harry. He was staring at the ground.  
  
"It um…wasn't me…"   
  
"Oh really??"  
  
_Come on, Ginny! Think up a good excuse!  
  
_"Yeah, I only just found out about it…someone took Polyjuice Potion and pretended to be me…"  
  
Harry looked sceptical, but slightly less angry than he had been. "Who?"  
  
_Oh no! Quick, think! This is sooo unfair! I shouldn't have to do this! None of this is my fault! I didn't say that stuff of my own free will! All the blame of this can be pinned on…  
  
_"Malfoy." She muttered.  
  
"_Malfoy??!?!"_Harry roared  
  
"Sorry?"  
  
"Malfoy took Polyjuice Potion and pretended to be you?"  
  
_Now there's an idea…  
  
_"Yes!" Ginny lied quickly. "He wanted to annoy you so he pretended to be me…I mean you know I don't like you like that, Harry, I bet you suspected it was him all the time, yeah?"  
  
"Well, now that you mention it…I did suspect it was Malfoy."Harry said, playing right into her hands.  
  
"Well I'm glad that's all sorted…"  
  
"I'm going to kill him!" Harry said, hitting the palm of his left hand with his right fist.  
  
_No! He can't do that! It wasn't Malfoy!_  
  
"NO!!"  
  
"Why not? He nearly wrecked our friendship!"  
  
_True, just not in the way you think…  
  
_"Because…after I found out it was him I got so mad that I…tried to hex him and then I…messed up the spell and knocked him out…and he banged his head and can't remember anything that happened in the last 24 hours!"  
  
"You attacked him?"  
  
"Well, I was so mad…"  
  
"It doesn't make up for what he did, though! Whether he remembers it or not! I'm going to- "  
  
Ginny placed a hand on Harry's chest holding him back, a movement which made her feel funny inside.  
  
"Please, Harry?" She looked up at him with large pleading eyes. "Please leave it, let me deal with Malfoy."  
  
Harry stared at her for a few minutes, then he sat down again. "Ok." He said reluctantly.  
  
"You won't tell anyone about this, will you Harry? No one's meant to know…if anyone asks just sat that we sorted it out, ok?"  
  
"Fine. I'm glad it wasn't you, Gin. You made me feel terrible. You don't think I used you, do you?"  
  
_YES!!! Yes I do, you ego-centric prat!! _  
  
"No, Course not! We're just friends,silly. Anyway, I need to go and find Jenna and Ju-"  
  
She turned to go, when Harry grabbed her arm.   
  
"Ginny? Please stay?"  
  
_**

 She couldn't resist that look. She never could, feeling very annoyed with herself, Ginny agreed to stay and keep Harry company.  
  
_He only wants me here because his friends have left him.  
  
_They sat up talking, like they used to, until the early hours of the morning. It was strange, Ginny hadn't talked to Harry like this since he asked her about asking someone else to the ball.  
  
They started off talking about normal things, like Quidditch and subjects, but they gradually talked about more serious things, like what they thought happened after death and Tom Riddle's diary.  
  
Ginny couldn't leave, she loved Harry too much. And once again he was talking to _her_, with no Ron or Hermione. It was just Harry telling _her_ serious things. She never got over feeling thrilled and privileged when Harry talked to her.  
  
_No, Ginny! Get up and leave! Think about how he's treated you…  
  
_It was 3 in the morning and they were still sitting in the common room talking. The fire had died down and the room was dark and shadowy.  
  
"Harry, I should go, We really need to get some sleep…"  
  
But she didn't go the dorm, they ended up falling asleep in the common room. Ginny on the coach, Harry on the arm chair across from her.   
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Draco went to the Gryffindor common room, shortly after Weasley had walked off.   
  
When he got there he was confronted by an angry Blaise.  
  
"Why did you walk off like that?" She demanded, the second he walked in the door.  
  
"Sorry" He muttered, feeling agitated.  
  
"What's with you, Draco? You've been acting really strange, ever since you got back from the hospital ward." She hissed, taking a step closer to him.  
  
"How have I?"  
  
"You walk off in the middle of meals, you start being nice to Potter, you stare at the Gryffindor table and now you just disappeared for a few hours. What's going on?"  
  
"Nothing, just my life doesn't revolve around you."  
  
Blaise stepped back, stunned. "I can't believe you just said that!"  
  
Pansy Parkinson smirked and looked smug. "Aw, don't you like Zabini anymore?"  
  
"Since when was my life any of your business, Parkinson?" he said  
  
Draco walked off, leaving two very shocked females looking after him. Once he was in his room, he did a spell to lock the door, knowing that his room mates were too thick to work out how to undo it. He lay down on his bed, just as his large eagle owl swooped through the window.  
  
"Great! What do they want this time?" He muttered as he tore the letter from his parents' leg off it.  
**_  
_Draco,   
            You already know that you are expected to become a Death Eater when you are older, however there is something that the Dark Lord wishes you to do now. You will find out everything you can about Harry Potter. Find out all his weaknesses, what is important to him and his habits, likes, dislikes and everything else that you can.   
If you do this satisfactorily then you will be rewarded by Voldemort and allowed to become a Death Eater sooner than we had even hoped.  
Do not fail.  
Lucius.  
  
**Draco read this and laughed. _No way in hell was he becoming a Death Eater_ and he was **not wasting his time stalking Potter!  
  
Rolling his eyes, he wrote:   
  
**Lucius******,   
               You already know that I will not become a Death Eater. I have told you countless times, I know it will disappoint you, but I refuse to follow in your footsteps. Do not bother me again.  
Draco.  
  
He sent this away as soon as he had written it, not really worried about his father's reaction. This happened almost every week …Everyone thought that Lucius was a bad father and didn't care about his son, but in truth, he did care about Draco a lot, he just couldn't see why Draco wouldn't be a Death Eater and insisted on sending him letters about "tasks" he was to do.   
  
It surprised a lot of people when they learned that Draco wasn't a supporter of Voldemort. But he always said to the Slytherins "No way in hell am I taking orders from someone else. I refuse to support this weirdo, what the hell is in it for me?". After he said that they usually walked away shocked. None of the Gryffindors knew the truth because Draco had always thought that it was none of their business.  
**  
(A/N : yeah this is probably not how its meant to be but I just felt like making Draco and Lucius a bit nicer)**  
  
He left his dorm and found Crabbe.  
  
"I need your owl, Crabbe."  
  
"Uh…why?" _God, is he really that thick?_  
  
"To send a letter, mine is away."  
  
"Ok…"  
  
Once he had Crabbe's owl. Draco returned to his dorm and wrote another letter.  
  
**Weasley,  
                  Meet me tomorrow morning at that tree again, I think you know the one I mean, we need to sort out stuff again. This is actually getting pretty stupid…So will you be there? Send the owl back with your answer.   
The-Handsome-ever-brilliant-SUPERIOR-Malfoy  
  
**He waited for an answer, the last few times he had written to her, she answered pretty quickly.  
  
He sat and drummed his fingers.  
  
And waited.  
  
And waited.  
  
He picked up a book.  
  
After ten minutes he realised that he'd just read the same paragraph ten times, he threw the book down in frustration. _That bloody owl probably got lost.  
  
_"Malfoy!" Someone yelled. "Come quick!"  
  
He ran into the common room. _Oh god…_  
  
Parkinson and Zabini were screaming at each other.  
  
"Look, I told you!!! Leave Draco alone, He's _mine" Pansy yelled, as Draco looked on in disgust.  
  
"He hates you, you daft cow, are you really that thick? He __runs awaywhen he sees you coming!"  
  
"That's not true!" Pansy cried, before she saw Draco standing there, and ran to her room in tears.  
  
_What is it with crying woman today? First Weasley, then Parkinson, oh god, Blaise as well…  
  
_"Oh, it's you." She said when she saw him.   
  
Draco went and sat next to her. "Don't cry."  
  
"I'm not, go away" Blaise said, when she clearly was crying.  
  
"You are. Is it because of me?"  
  
"Don't flatter yourself."  
  
"I'm sorry about what I said…"  
  
Blaise looked up, her eyes blazing, like they did whenever she was really mad…Draco stood up and stepped back, just as she jumped to her feet.  
  
"Yeah! Sure! You always say that! Always! And you never mean it! But I always forgive you, every single time!... (And you do this countless times!) …Every time I forgive you, because, fool that I am, I'm in love with you, Draco. I hate you, but I love you. I despise you right now for doing this to me! So just don't think about making another hurtful comment then saying Sorry again! It's not going to work anymore. So stay away from me!!"_****  
  
_Women these days! What have I done now? She's in love with me? WHAT???_****  
  
"That's a bit extreme."  
  
Blaise gave him a look that made his blood go cold and walked off.  
  
Draco ran his fingers through his hair.  
  
"Great!" He said sarcastically.  
  
"What's up, Malfoy? Having women trouble? That's two girls you've made cry today."   
  
Zack*, another 7th year walked over to where Draco was sitting.  
  
Draco half smirked "Three actually."  
  
Zack was actually one of the few house mates who Draco could stand, he was clever, nice and probably only in Slytherin because of his clever schemes to get out of work ,make money and get girls.  
  
"Don't worry, they all get like that, they'll be fine tomorrow." He sat down next to Draco. "We all make women cry from time to time, don't beat yourself up about it, mate."  
  
"Yeah…But three in the one day..."   
   
"Who was the other one?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"The other chick that you made cry. I know Zabini and Parkinson, but who was the third?"  
  
"Oh…" Draco paused, not knowing whether to tell Zack or not._ What the hell.   
  
"Weasley."  
  
"No way! You talk to Gryffindors? Oh! Wait a minute, isn't that the chick that saved your life?!"  
  
Draco glared down at his hands. "Yes." He muttered.  
  
"So why did she? I mean is there something going on that I don't know about here?" Zack waggled his eyebrows up and down mischievously.  
  
Draco laughed "No! I mean, God! Have you seen her? And I don't do Gryffindors, evil Slytherin here, remember?"  
   
"I dunno, she's not that bad. Could be good looking with a bit of work…Just need to straighten her hair and wear better clothes and pluck her eyebrows…I bet you anything she'd be kinda nice."  
  
"I'll believe that when I see it. Go on then! I dare you, make Ginny Weasley look good!"  
  
"Oh no! This will turn out to be some kind of cheesy "She's all that" kind of thing."  
  
"What?"  
  
"It's a Muggle Film. Don't ask. Anyway I have better things to do with my time, you know that Ravenclaw chick, with the blonde hair? She's going to the ball with me…it's only a matter of time before she falls for my irresistible charm…"  
  
"Yeah, I know the one you mean. I dunno who I'm going with, I thought about Zabini, but well…"  
  
"Yeah, she loves you, how sweet!" Zack laughed. "What about Weasley?" He asked mischievously.  
  
"What about her?"  
  
"You could go with her."  
  
"I told you, there's nothing going on between me and-" Draco stopped yelling when he saw that Zack was joking. "That's a good one! Me and Weasley! Hahaha!"  
  
The two guys started laughing so hard that they were getting weird looks from the people round about them.   
  
Draco still went to bed that night with a feeling of dread. __Blaise is mad at me, Pansy's mad at me…And why didn't Weasley reply to my owl?  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
As Ginny left breakfast the next day she felt someone grab her by the shoulder.  
  
"Hey!Wha-"  
  
She turned round. It was Malfoy. He dragged her outside, down to where people couldn't see them from the school.  
  
"You didn't reply to my owl." He glared at her. "Haven't I already told you I don't like to be kept waiting?"  
  
_Huh? What's he talking about?_  
  
"Owl? What owl…Oh! The owl that was sitting on my bed…I uh….I didn't get the chance to read that"  
  
"What? Didn't you go to bed last night?" Malfoy snarled.  
  
Ginny felt herself blushing. Malfoy noticed.  
  
"Ooh, with a guy were you?" He said sarcastically.  
  
Ginny wanted to wipe that stupid smug smirk off his face so badly, she really really wanted to just reach up and punch him in the jaw. Instead she felt herself going an even brighter red.  
  
Malfoy was laughing. "Oh my god! You're joking! You slept with a guy last night!?"  
  
"No!!! We were just talking!" Ginny cried.  
  
Malfoy faked a knowing look. "Sure you were. So who's the lucky guy?"  
  
"Harry. And we were just talking!"  
  
"All night?" Malfoy looked sceptical.  
  
"Yes! No…I fell asleep on the coach but…Hey! This is none of your business! Why do you care so much anyway?!" She said, feeling exasperated that he always got the better of her.  
  
"I have the right to know why you didn't reply to my owl. Who knew it… Ginny Weasley and Harry Potter…"  
  
"Shut up!"  
  
"Touchy are we?" Malfoy grinned, making him look annoyingly cute. "Oh yeah, __he's not with you _****is he? He's with that Lavender chick…"  
  
_ARGH THAT'S IT!  
  
_Ginny threw herself at him in a mad rage. She pummelled into him, hitting him across the face with her hands.  
  
Malfoy was taken by surprise and fell backwards onto the ground, Ginny not expecting him to fall, fell with him, and landed on top of him.  
  
"Hey! Woah! Stop! Stop dammit!" He said, trying to stop her slapping him.  
  
Malfoy quickly reversed the situation and had Ginny pinned to the ground, his hands at her shoulders, to stop her getting up and attacking him again.  
  
"Let me go!" She cried, trying her best to look defenceless.  
  
"You attacked me!" Malfoy yelled.  
  
"I'm sorry!" She said, her eyes wide open. "Please get off me!"  
  
_hahaha__ just you wait…  
  
Malfoy was so annoyingly close to her, that she couldn't help smelling his aftershave and noticing his muscled arms and broad chest that were helping to keep her pinned to the ground…She looked away.  
  
Malfoy glared at her "Fine. I -..AAARRRRGGGHHH!!!!"  
  
Ginny had brought her knee up as hard as she could and had kneed him where she knew it would hurt.  
  
Malfoy was instantly off her and was rolling around the ground in agony.  
  
"You….little…bitch…"He gasped, shooting murderous glares at Ginny, who was doubled over laughing.  
  
"OwOwOW!!AAAAGGGHH!"  
  
He was still curled in a ball, shouting with the pain.  
  
"Aw come on! It can't be _that_ bad! Don't be such a baby!!"  
  
Malfoy stood up, wincing. "That was sooo uncalled for!" He said, looking venomous.  
  
"Well…I don't know…you were being mean… I think it was justified.I was a damsel in distress! I had to do _something_ I-" She quickly stopped when she saw that Malfoy looked like he was about to breathe fire. "I…need to go to…class…oh, I'll see you after dinner, you owe me, I think…uh…Bye!"  
  
"**_I_ owe** ****__you??" Malfoy bellowed after her, his voice full of outrage.  
  
She ran off, trying not to grin.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Draco struggled back up to the school, feeling humiliated, angry and in pain. He met Snape at the door.  
  
"Draco, are you ok?"  
  
Draco had always been Snape's favourite pupil and Snape was Draco's favourite teacher, Severus had always been like a father to him. And a far better father than Lucuis.   
  
"I will be. I won't be in class today. I'll talk to you later."   
  
Once he was in the Slytherin common room, Draco lay across a sofa, groaning. He hated Weasley!! He possibly hated her more than he hated Harry Potter right now.  
  
"Ow ow ow ow."  
  
She was definitely the only girl he knew who would do that to him.  
  
"Evil cow." He muttered.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"She didn't!" Severus gasped.  
  
"She did."  
  
Draco was sitting in Snape's office at the end of the school day, slightly before dinner.   
  
"Are we talking about the same Ginny Weasley??" Severus was incredulous.  
  
"Yes." Draco muttered. "She looks shy and quiet but she's not! She's an evil bitch!"  
  
"You didn't provoke her into it? I find it hard to believe that Weasley-"  
  
"No. I did.not.provoke.her.into.it. Well…not really…..OK! Maybe I did a bit. But she deserved it! God, Gryffindors these days!"  
  
Severus smirked, like he always did whenever someone mocked his rival house.  
  
"If I were you, I would avoid her."  
  
"Hm. Wish I could, but I owe her."  
  
"What for?"  
  
"Just something that happened…nothing important. Oh…I got another letter from my father…"  
  
"What did it say?" Severus leaned forward, anxiously searching Draco's face.  
  
"The usual crap. And I sent back the usual stupid answer. Don't worry 'bout it. He'll get mad then keep trying."  
  
"Draco, I hate to say this... but maybe you should take your father's letters more seriously. He doesn't seem bothered right now, but when the time comes, he may well try to  make you become a Death Eater by force."   
He stopped talking when he saw Draco staring sadly down at his hands. "Don't worry, Draco. I won't let him. Anyway…"   
He put his hand on Draco's shoulder and searched for a lighter subject. "Who are you going to the ball with? Not that long away…"  
  
"I dunno…I thought Blaise…but…"  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"Well…she yelled at me…I said my life didn't revolve around her and then later she said that well….I made her cry…and she said that…" Draco cursed himself for going red.  
_  
I'm a Malfoy, we don't blush!!!  
  
_"She said she loved you?" Snape guessed.  
  
"How did you know?"  
  
"Just the way you were talking…don't be embarrassed, Draco. Someone's bound to say it to you sooner or later…From what I've gathered, the girls fall at your feet…"  
  
"I don't want them to!" Draco yelled suddenly, knocked over his coffee. "Damn! Sorry…"  
  
"It's fine." Severus cleaned it with a wave of his wand. "You don't want them to?"  
  
"I used to…but now…it's just annoying! I never took it seriously, until Blaise and I feel really bad now! And I don't know why because I'm not a nice person, I'm not nice and caring…I'm evil! But…I don't want people getting hurt…not to mention the stress it causes me! It's so annoying! Some girls won't leave me alone! They follow me round the school! Argh!"  
  
"Don't worry, Draco. Ignore them, it will get better. And never let people make you think that you are evil. You are not. Just because you are not open and are cold does not mean that you were evil. You've built up a wall between yourself and the world, similar to what I did. Let the wall come down, Draco. Be yourself, don't feel like you have to hide your emotions, just because your father told you to."  
  
"The three rules of being a Malfoy : Always have the upper hand, never show your emotions and never fall in love." Draco half grinned. "I've already broken the first two. I didn't have the upper hand this morning. Weasley did, she had me where she wanted me while I thought that it was the other way round. And I've just shown a whole lot of emotions in this conversation…"  
  
"Just the third one to break then?"  
  
"I will never fall in love."   
  
Draco said, then looking at his watch realised he was late for dinner and ran off to the Great Hall.  
  
He didn't hear what Snape murmur "I wouldn't be so sure of that, Draco. Things are never that straight forward… I have a feeling that you will be in love by the end of the year, whether you want to be or not…"  
  
  
  
That's it for now, next chapter up sooner, I PROMISE. And it wasn't really that much of a cliffhanger this time…so I hope you're all happy.  
  
*Zack ~ This character is slightly based on Zack from Saved By the Bell because I love that programme, so I don't own him either. :(  
  
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	8. Kiss the Girl

A/N Yeah I know it took me ages to get this done. I had a bit of writer's block, but the slow update is mainly due to my stupid school, giving me loads of homework and two music exams. So read and enjoy. Well…read it anyway.  
  
  
Disclaimer : If you think its mine  
                     I tell you it's not  
                     It's all Jk's   
                     Except the plot  
  
  
  
Chapter eight-Kiss the Girl  
  
Ginny felt pleased with herself. She had finally gotten the better of Malfoy, but she couldn't help feeling just a tiny bit guilty.  
  
_Why? He just ruined my life! He deserved it!  
_  
But he_ had_ been nice to her last night when she was upset…  
  
"No! It's no excuse! I wouldn't have been upset in the first place if it wasn't for him!" She said aloud by mistake.  
  
"If it wasn't for who?"   
  
Ginny spun round and saw Ron and Harry on their way to class.  
  
"Nothing…where's Hermione?"  
  
Ron's ears went slightly red. "Isn't talking to me." He grunted. "Went off with Seamus and Dean."  
  
"Oh…what did you do?"  
  
"Hey! Why do you always assume that when Hermione stops talking to us that**_ I_ did something?"  
  
Harry made a face behind Ron's back and Ginny burst out laughing.  
  
Ron glared at her. "Glad that my life is such a comedy to you." He said sarcastically before marching off.  
  
Harry winked at Ginny before he left, making her feel week at the knees.  
  
_No…not again! Forget him! He's not worth it…_**

_  
_~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"What were you laughing at?"  
  
"Sorry?"  
  
"I saw you laughing back then."  
  
"Mr Potter, Mr Weasley, will you please stop talking."  
  
Harry looked up and saw Flitwick standing over them with a frown on his face.  
  
"Oh…right…yeah."  
  
They waited until he had left to see how Seamus, Dean and Hermione were doing and then started talking again.  
  
"I wasn't laughing!" Harry said, when he saw the sceptical look Ron was giving.  
  
"You were."  
  
"It was just…kind of funny…Whenever Hermione gets annoyed at us it _is usually because of something you've done or said…"  
  
"It is not! Anyway…I never mean what I say. She just over-reacts. That's not my fault."  
  
Harry almost laughed again_. Typical_ _Ron,___ always finds someone else to blame…  
  
"Well…I think sometimes she does get a bit upset…maybe you should be a bit nicer…"  
  
Harry instantly regretted saying that. Ron exploded. He thumped his fist down on the desk.  
  
"Ow…I _am _nice!! And she doesn't look upset now, does she?" Ron glared over to where Hermione was laughing with Seamus and Dean.  
  
"Why do you care?" Harry asked, although he knew why.  
  
"I don't!" Ron spluttered.   
  
"Right…Anyway…I should probably ask Flitwick how to do this charm…"Harry said.  
  
"Look at them! Anyone would think they were her best friends instead of us!" Ron interrupted.  
  
"Well…she's not talking to us at the moment so theoretically…we're not her best friends…" Harry said, then on seeing the look on Ron's face, quickly added "But that won't last for long…we always make up…"  
  
"Yeah…ok." Ron threw one last dirty look at Seamus and Dean, then picked up his wand. "So…about this charm…"  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Ginny next saw Harry at dinner time. She was sitting next him and Ron. Usually she would have felt guilty about taking Hermione's  seat, but Hermione looked like she was having a fun time next to Dean and Seamus and Fred and George.  
  
"Wonder where Malfoy is…" Ron commented absently looking over at the Slytherin table. "He wasn't in any classes today…"  
  
"What?" Ginny asked quickly.  
  
"Maybe he had a nasty encounter with a suit of armour again, only there was no Ginny there to save him!" Harry grinned.  
  
_No…not this again…  
  
_"You never _did _tell us why you saved him, Ginny…" Ron began.  
  
Harry leant across and put his arm round Ginny. "Yeah…why did you?"  
  
Ginny felt herself going red and tried to cut her meat, instead she ended up knocking over her goblet. The pumpkin juice spread over her robes.  
  
"Oh no!" she exclaimed.  
  
_WHY?? Why am I such a klutz?? Why does he make me feel so nervous….  
  
_She stood up, dripping juice onto the floor. "I…uh…I'll be back…"  
  
"Why don't you just do a cleaning spell?" Ron yelled after her.  
  
She pretended that she hadn't heard him and walked on out of the hall…right into something solid.  
  
"Argh!"  
  
It was Malfoy   
  
_No..no__…___no  
  
"Trying to kill me, Weasley? That's the second time you've attacked me today!"  
  
"I didn't attack you." She mumbled, performing a quick cleaning spell.  
  
"Throwing yourself at me, then? We both know you think I'm handsome" He spat at her.  
  
"I need to talk to you. Come on."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
_Come on??She expects** me** to follow her??  _ Malfoy thought incredulously, but he did follow her.  
  
She led him outside to the lake._  
  
_"Yeah? What?" Draco glared at her__  
  
"I-"  
  
"What do you want, I haven't got all day."  
  
"I'm sorry about earlier…" She said through clenched teeth. "And you owe me."  
  
_I owe her? After what happened earlier? I don't think so…  
  
_"I do not. I think you evened it out earlier." He growled.  
  
Weasley started laughing again.  
  
"Do you ever stop laughing?" He asked in annoyance.  
  
She cleared her throat. "Sorry. So what do you want to do for me?"  
  
"I could kill you if you want." He muttered.  
  
"Tempting as that sounds….Don't worry. I'll think of something."  
  
"And what am I meant to do? Stay here until you think of something?"  
  
"We could star gaze again…" She looked up at him nervously, waiting for his reaction.   
  
Was that hope her eyes were filled with?  
  
"What the hell. Might as well."  
  
Draco positioned himself on the ground, next to her. "Good thing it gets dark early…."  
  
"Mm."  
  
"So why did you run out of the Great Hall anyway?" He sat up and leaned on one elbow so he could see her.  
  
She absently played with a bit of hair near her ear. "I…made a fool of myself…again. In front of…"  
  
"Potter?"  
  
She sighed and looked upset. "Yeah."  
  
Draco shook his head. "You do that a lot don't you?"  
  
Instead of getting annoyed and defensive she sighed again. "Yeah…I always do. He just makes me feel so…nervous…and  then I mess up and I feel like a total fool…but there's nothing I can do about it…I don't know why I'm telling you this… he thinks I'm an idiot now…"  
  
It was on the tip of Draco's tongue to say "Don't worry, I'm sure he already thinks you're an idiot." But instead he said. "Maybe you told me because you thought that I could help."  
  
She sat up and twisted round to face him. "Could you?"  
  
Draco hadn't thought that she would actually ask for his help, so not knowing what else to say, he said" No. Why would I? Unless that's what you want me to do, seeing as I supposedly "owe you""  
  
Her face fell and she looked near tears and Draco felt more cruel than he had in a long time.  
  
He lay back and looked up at the sky. It was a clear and cold night. The stars were shining brightly.  
  
"No…forget it. It doesn't matter." She avoided his eyes. "I don't know why I told you. It's obvious you don't care…and it's not your problem…"  
  
"He doesn't deserve you. I'm not going to help you get someone who doesn't deserve you." Draco said abruptly.  
  
Her jaw dropped. Then she recovered from the shock. "Well…I-"  
  
She never finished her sentence because at that moment Harry chose to walk to the lake with Lavender on his arm.  
  
Draco felt himself pulled into the bushes.  
  
"Ssh! He can't see us together!" She whispered.  
  
Harry and Lavender didn't see them and stopped a bit away from where they were hiding.  
  
"What was with that Weasley chick tonight? She just…ran out." Lavender said  
  
Harry laughed. "She's shy."  
  
"She likes you."  
  
"I don't think-"  
  
Lavender interrupted. "She does. But you're mine." She smirked. "Poor little Ginny…"  
  
"Yeah…I do feel sorry for her…"Harry muttered.__  
  
Lavender smirked. "She's probably never even been kissed. And no wonder. Look at her, walking around with her head down, avoiding people…Definitely not right for Harry Potter…but maybe I am?"  
  
She started kissing Harry.  
  
_Ewwww___, I don't want to see this…   
  
Weasley looked devastated.  
  
"I think I'll pay my debt to you, Weasley." Draco whispered to her.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Ginny felt as if her heart was being stamped on. __Why isn't Harry defending me? I thought he was my friend…  
  
Suddenly she felt herself being pulled up by Malfoy, so that they were in clear view of Harry. He whispered "I think I'll pay my debt to you, Weasley." And before she could say anything, he was kissing her.   
  
She was stunned. It was just a quick kiss on the lips and it felt like he had just leaned in when he was moving away again. It only lasted a second, but it was enough.  
  
"Ginny?!" Harry called over.  
  
She quickly pushed Malfoy back into the shadows. Had Harry seen who she was with?  
  
"Yeah? Can you wait? I'm a little busy right now…"  
  
Harry and Lavender looked more shocked than she had ever seen them. And that was something, considering all that Harry had been through.  
  
"Who're you with?" Lavender called out.  
  
_Nosey cow  
  
_"Sorry, can we talk later?" Ginny grinned apologetically and stepped back into the bushes.  
  
Lavender was going to follow her, but Harry held her back.  
  
"I want to see who she's with…" She said but Harry shook his head. "Leave it. I'm going back inside, coming?"  
  
Much to Ginny's relief they walked off.  
  
"Ugh!" Malfoy walked out of the trees, picking bits of moss off his robes. "I'm filthy!"  
  
Ginny half smiled at this, but stopped when she caught Malfoy's eyes. "Um…thanks. I-"  
  
"Don't mention it. I hope that's cleared up things with you and Potter. He won't think you love him now…"Malfoy said awkwardly.  
  
"Uh…yeah. I….need to go…" Ginny walked backwards and tripped over a tree root and landed on the ground with a thump."Ow!" She said, going red. "Bye…" She ran off.  
  
When she was back in her dorm she felt really weird. Why did Malfoy's kiss make her tremble? Her heart was pounding. Her first kiss. From Malfoy! She had expected to be repulsed by that idea…but instead she just had a weird feeling in her stomach.   
With her head in a daze she sat down on her bed and pulled her hair out of the tight knot it had been in. She lay down to sleep not noticing she was still wearing all her clothes  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Ginny wasn't having a great time at breakfast the next day. Lavender hadn't wasted any time in telling everyone that she saw Ginny kissing someone in the bushes. On her way to Breakfast all the Gryffindors she passed in the corridors asked her who it was but she refused to tell them. If it had been anyone but Ginny Weasley who had been seen kissing someone then it wouldn't have been a big deal, but it was because it was innocent little Ginny that people were really curious.   
  
Everyone knew…except Ron. And Ginny hoped to keep it that way, which was why her heart dropped at the sight of Lavender sitting across from her and Ron.  
  
"You going to tell me yet, Ginny?" Lavender asked. She had been pestering Ginny non stop, asking who she was kissing.  
  
Ginny really didn't want to tell her. Firstly because Ron would go crazy and secondly because, for some weird reason, she didn't want anyone to know…it felt…_special_ almost, just her secret.  She looked at the Slytherin table. Malfoy was sitting there flirting with some girl who she didn't know.   
  
_See, it's not that big a deal_ she told herself _I'm probably one of the only girls in the school who he hadn't kissed already…  
_  
"Tell her what?" Ron looked up curiously.   
  
"It's none of your business, Ron." Hermione snapped at him. She was on speaking terms with Ron again, but neither of them was being very civil to each other.  
  
"Tell her what?" Ron asked again.  
  
Lavender opened her mouth to say something but Ginny quickly cut in.  
  
"Nothing."  
  
"If it's nothing, then why are you blushing?" Ron said, sounding slightly angry.  
  
"Doesn't he know?" Lavender grinned.  
  
"Know what??" Ron yelled. He looked at Harry, who quickly diverted his gaze."You know something too, don't you?"  
  
"No" said Harry quickly.  
  
"Do you really want to know, Ron?" Lavender grinned.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"_Why_?" Ginny whined.  
  
"Because you're my sister and if something is going on then I have a right to know."   
  
"So that means I have a right to know everything that you and Harry do then?" Ginny said cuttingly.  
  
"Yes…no…just tell me, Lavender." Ron muttered.  
  
"Well-"  
  
Desperate to do anything she could to cause a distraction, Ginny picked up the jug of Pumpkin juice and threw it over Ron.  
  
"AGGGGHHH!!!!!!! What the hell??" Ron roared  
  
"Uh…my hand slipped…" Ginny muttered.  
  
Ron glared at Harry, who was stifling a smile. "Think it's funny do you?" He snarled and without giving Harry any warning, he picked up his goblet and promptly poured the contents over Harry's head.  
  
"Oh! That was too far!" Harry yelled, although he was laughing. "Take this!"  He flung his spaghetti at Ron. Harry usually was a good throw, but since he was laughing so much, the plateful missed Ron entirely and hit Lavender.  
  
Lavender jumped up with a shot"Ooh! That's it, Potter! I'm fed up of you! You are so immature!" She started to walk off, then she turned round and yelled over her shoulder. "Forget about the ball. Maybe you should go with Weasley."  
  
"There's nothing going on between me and Ginny-"  
  
"I didn't mean her, I was talking about _him_" She pointed at Ron, then stomped off.  
  
"Can you believe her?" Ron bellowed "Saying that we're gay! What a ludicrous-"  
  
"Actually, you'll find that a lot of people say that." Snape cut in.  
  
Ron gasped at a professor saying such a thing, but Harry didn't look very shocked.  
  
"Who is responsible for this mess?" Snape said icily  
  
"Me." Said Harry, Ron and Ginny all at the same time.  
  
"Of course. The noble Gryffindor, always ready to take the blame." Snape said sarcastically. "Well since you are all so desperate to take the blame for this mess, then I am sure you will be just as ready to take the detention. All three of you can come down to my office for this. Tonight. Don't be late."  
  
He walked off, looking almost happy.  
  
"No! Mum's going to kill us…" Ron groaned.  
  
But Ginny wasn't listening. Harry wasn't going to the dance with Lavender! He was single again! He-  
  
_No, no,no,no! You don't like him any more!!_  
  
The detention was long and uneventful. Much to her disappointment, Ginny had no time to speak to Harry. The three of them crawled up to Gryffindor tower exhausted after having scrubbed the many stair cases until Dumbledore saw them and told them they could go. Ron wearily said the password and opened the door.  
  
"Ginny! How could you?" Fred was standing there, looking more mad than she had ever seen him George was behind him, wearing an identical expression.  
  
"What?" Ginny asked, bewildered.  
  
"You kissed Draco Malfoy, last night!" Fred yelled.   
  
And the whole room went silent.  
  
  
  
A/N: Yeah, I'm leaving it there!. …Will Fred kill Ginny? Will Ginny still feel weird about the kiss? Will Ron and Hermione ever make up and be friends again (or maybe something more…) And will I ever write chapter 9??? Hahaha WATCH THIS SPACE!  
  
  
Oh and the title is taken from a song from The Little Mermaid ( I have some very memories involving that song…)  
**  
  
THANKS TO :   
****BB-deejay aka Cookie Monster **: I'll try and put your name in a later chapter if you want, I'm usually looking for names, so if anyone else wants their name in it, just say!  
**Siriusly**** serious : There you go, Siree, Hahaha had you waiting for a while there!  
**Butterflysky**: Yeah, my friends are very worried about me too!!  
**Lucia Dreams :** Thank you!  
**Slytherin Kitten :** Draco/Ginny is the best pairing I think! They rock together!  
**Lady Godiva******: Yeah, Ginny is funny when she's mean and Draco is so cuuuute when he's nice!  
**KRINGLE**: Thanks! That's good to hear  
**Airna** : Ah…hope this wait didn't increase the phone bill too much…you were only waiting for about a month right? Sorry…  
**Crystal** : Yeah, I was wondering too…lol..you can tell this fic is really well planned…  
**Fire Spirit :** Thanks! I love reviews like yours! That was so nice and positive!  
**August **: Glad you love reading this, I love writing it.  
**The Blue Flying Lunch Box :** It probably is weird, Snape doing that, but I wanted Draco to have someone who he could turn to and tell everything to.  
**Shyanne**: Yep, that truly was a great review! So since you left a great review…here's the next chapter!  
**txt-eva :** You left a poem  
               That's pretty cool  
               For the slow update  
               Blame my school  
**purplehaze****** : Huh! I'm not obsessed with Zack. I told you, I needed a name. Anyway…Zack rocks.  
**KeeperOfTheMoon**: Cool! You found it funny! Yay. Ginny is cool, Draco totally didn't expect that!  
**Morgana**: Thank you!  
***karly* :** Fire and Ice…it's not original anymore, but it's a great concept!  
**Panther** : Thank you!  
**kpstar25 **: You found it funny? Yesyesyesyes!  
**Lily of the Shadow :** Yeah, I did poems in this chapter too!  
**ATrueSlytherin**: Thanks  
**kitkat87** : Snape's cool! I like Snape when he's nice  
**amythistmoongodess**: Nice name! Thanks for the review! It annoys me when people make Draco get nice really quickly  
**Lady Cecilia :** Your friends are crazy if they can't see the great potential with Draco/Ginny! Ignore them, Draco/Ginny is the best pairing! Yeah, I've read Serpent's Bride, it's really good.  
**Niori**: Ah…please don't hurt me! Here, look! I've done chapter eight!  
**Miah****** Tolensky : That's a really cool concept! I might use that…Draco the Astrology expert…that could be cute!  
**Missy**: Thanks!  
**Eva **: Sorry for leaving you hanging, That wasn't the end of the story, but it was the next chapter!  
  
  
~**I will be obliged to you  
If you take a minute to review  
If you don't, I guess that's fine…  
I just won't type up chapter nine~**  
  
******_


	9. Trouble

A/N : Wow! FINALLY! Sorry this took so long, I got a bit stuck. Thanks to everyone who waited patiently. And thanks to everyone who didn't.  
  
Disclaimer –None of this belongs to me apart from the plot. I wish it did, I wish I owned Draco, but he belongs to JK Rowling.  
                       
Chapter Nine –Trouble  
  
  
"**Fred**? **George? What are you guys doing here?" Ginny exclaimed.  
  
"Didn't you see them at dinner?" Ron asked, finally finding his voice.  
  
"Course she didn't. She was probably too busy staring at Malfoy." George growled.  
  
"What? Don't be stupid!" Ginny exclaimed. "Why didn't you come and say hi, and why are you here?"  
  
"You are _not _sidetracking your way out of this one, Virginia Weasley!" Fred yelled.  
  
"Maybe we should go somewhere else…"George said, noticing the large crowd around them"  
  
They went up the stairs. "We've been given this room…" George muttered, as he unlocked the door.  
  
Then Ginny realised, she _had_ seen Fred and George at dinner! They were sitting next to Hermione! But she didn't notice them properly because Ron was being annoying. Plus she always did half expect to see her brothers at Hogwarts. She always forgot that they had left.  
  
Fred and George pushed Ginny into the room, followed by Ron.  
  
"**So tell us, Ginny. What happened last night?**" Ron yelled  
  
"Nothing!" She lied.  
  
"We saw you!" Fred hissed. "We saw you in the bushes with Malfoy!"  
  
"WHAT?" Ron roared, getting to his feet. "I can_ not believe this!"  
  
_Oh no!! Fred and George must have been on the other side of the bushes to Harry and Lavender! They must have seen her!!  
  
_"It's not what it looks like…" She said, stalling. "What were you doing there anyway?" she said turning to Fred and George, who still looked pretty mad.  
  
"We arrived last night! We thought that you knew we were there! We waved to you several times in the corridors! We were outside, setting up our joke shop stall."  
  
"What?"  
  
"We're here for a few weeks to promote our joke shop. We were setting it up outside when we saw Draco Malfoy with someone in the bushes." George said.  
  
"They looked like they had red hair and the thought crossed my mind that it was you, but I thought that was a ridiculous idea, so we forgot about it." Fred continued.  
  
"Until we came up here and heard the rumours about you kissing someone last night. It didn't take much to put two and two together!!" George said exasperated.  
  
"Oh…"   
  
Ginny thought about denying it, but it was a bit late now. She should have denied it right away, but she was so shocked by Fred and George knowing that she didn't think of that.  
  
She said the only thing she could think of "So what? I shouldn't have to answer to you! This is my life! I should be allowed to do what I want to without having my brothers checking up on me! Just GO AWAY!"  
  
She ran out of the room and fell onto her bed in tears. She did what she always did when she felt bad. She pulled out her diary and started to write.  
  
**Dear Diary,  
                      Fred and George saw me kissing Malfoy! I didn't know what to say so I yelled at them and ran out of the room. But it really is none of their business! I shouldn't have to justify my actions to them! Or to Ron, it really-  
  
**She stopped writing when there was a knock on the door. Reluctantly she opened it. It was Fred. She let him in the room, thankful that no one else was there.  
  
"I'm sorry, Gin. I shouldn't have got so mad at you." He said, sitting on her bed.  
  
"It's ok." She mumbled.  
  
"No. It's not…it's just…"He looked embarrassed. "It's hard watching your little baby sister grow up and then when I saw you kissing Malfoy…"  
  
"It's fine. I-…We're not going out or anything…it's just that he was helping me out."  
  
Fred looked curious.  
  
"It was…a dare….it doesn't matter…"She said quickly. "So how long are you staying for?"  
  
Fred didn't mention it again.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
The first thing Draco heard when he left his dorm was "You kissed Weasley, didn't you?"  
  
His mouth dropped open. _How did they know?_  
  
He quickly recovered and shot an aggressive "No!" At them.  
  
But by the time he reached the Great Hall he realised something…..  
  
There was no point denying it.  
  
_Everyone knew!  
  
_News travelled fast… he was dying to know how everyone first found out…he was going to kill Weasley!  
  
When he entered the Great Hall there was a crowd of students instantly around him. This was obviously the biggest scandal that year so far.  
  
He silenced the witch who was going on about Romeo and Juliet (A/N : Yes, he knows who they are) with a look and went in search of Weasley. She wasn't in the Great Hall. He knew where she would be.  
  
Sure enough she was sitting down at the lake, her head in her hands. She knew he was there even before he spoke.   
  
"Just don't, ok?" She said, without looking up.  
  
"I deserve an explanation." He said. "How do they know?"  
  
She looked up, her face was stained with tears. Unwillingly Draco found the anger that had built up inside him starting to melt.  
  
"Fred and George saw…" She moaned. "This is all your fault, you know! You should never have-"  
  
"I was trying to help, alright? It's not my fault that you're a total loser with no boyfriend! I made you look kind of cool in front of Potter." He snapped.  
  
She frowned, but didn't speak for a while. "What are we going to do?"  
  
"I'll work something out. I need to save my reputation."  
  
"Oh yeah..your _reputation_." She said sarcastically. "And what about me? What about __my reputation?"  
  
"What reputation? Look, we both know you think I'm handsome. I bet this is doing your reputation good!" He teased.  
  
To his surprise she laughed. "Yeah? Ok. I think you're handsome. Happy?"  
  
His jaw dropped open.  
  
"Be careful. You might swallow a fly" She smirked.  
  
He quickly closed his mouth. Then opened it again. Then closed it. Unable to think of anything to say.  
  
"Whassa matter? Weasel got your tongue?"  
  
"You wish." He said, once again striving for control.  
  
"It's not often I get the better of you." She admitted.  
  
"That was the first and last time." He said, although he was trying not to laugh.  
  
"Second. And almost definitely not the last."  
  
"Second?...oh...Well we'll see" He said.   
  
"Yeah, I guess we will…"  
  
"So...you love me Weasel?" He half teased.  
  
She stood silent for a moment and then laughed. "NO, silly! You're evil, I love Harry remember?"  
  
For some strange reason Draco felt a wave of anger pass over him. "I was joking." He said coldly. Then he walked off.  
  
Potions was unbearable. Snape kept trying to catch his eye, but Draco deliberately stared at his desk.  
  
After class Snape asked him to stay behind after class. Draco reluctantly waited at his desk. Snape just _looked_ at him. Draco found himself blushing.  
  
"What?" He snapped.  
  
"Nothing…" Severus said, smirking.  
  
Draco glowered. "Don't say it, ok? I've had enough hassle today."  
  
"Is it true?"  
  
"Is what true?" Draco said, playing innocent  
  
"The rumours about you and Weasley."  
  
Draco sat on Snape's desk. "I dunno, it depends what rumours you are hearing."  
  
"You kissed her…in the bushes…"  
  
"No! Don't be daft!" Draco cried, cursing himself for blushing.__ Why am I blushing? I never blush! Although I seem to be doing it a lot recently…  
  
"Right." Snape looked sceptical.  
  
"Well…maybe I did." Draco mumbled avoiding Snape's eyes.  
  
Snape raised his eyebrows.  
  
"It wasn't like that! I only did it to annoy Potter." Draco said quickly  
  
"Oh." Snape didn't sound convinced.  
  
"He was making fun of Ginny and I felt sorry for her so-"  
  
"Weasley!! I meant Weasley, it was a slip of the tongue. Well Potter and some girl were going on about how she didn't have a boyfriend and I…well…I kissed her…I owed her anyway, you know."  
  
Severus smirked.  
  
"Stop it! There's nothing going on between us. She's a Weasley, dammit. Not to mention she's annoying!"  
  
"I believe you, Draco. Anyway, you should go to class."  
  
Snape did believe that Draco didn't have feelings for Weasley, however he had a feeling that would change before long.  
  
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
_"So what does Draco kiss like then, Ginny?"  
  
"Are you going out with Draco?"  
  
"Are you going to kiss him again?"  
  
"You are so lucky! Draco is so hot!!"  
  
"Wow, Ginny! I wish Draco would kiss me! You're cooler than I thought!"  
  
_Ginny heard those comments echoing around her all day. Every class she was in, every corridor she walked down, girls were asking her questions. The funny thing was that she _liked _it. For once she was getting attention in a positive way. She was so used to being invisible and ignored that it felt wonderful to finally be noticed. It was really embarrassing though when a Ravenclaw seventh year asked if Draco was good at kissing and Ginny was just about to answer when she realised that Malfoy was walking past. He raised an eyebrow at her and she felt herself going red.  
  
"Well?" The girl said, not realising Malfoy was standing behind her. "Would you kiss him again?"  
  
"I don't know…" Ginny mumbled.  
  
"That means yes." The Ravenclaw smirked.  
  
"Well if you ask me, then I would say it meant "I don't know." " Malfoy said.  
  
The girl jumped and looked behind her, then quickly hurried off down the corridor.  
  
"I need to see you later, Weasley." He muttered in Ginny's ear before sweeping past her to his next class.  
  
Apart from that embarrassing incident her day had gone very well. Fred and George had turned up in McGonagall's lesson, to advertise their newest stock, resulting in no work done that class.  
  
Later at dinner that night a lot of guys were being nice to her. They were all probably wondering why Draco Malfoy, who the girls talked about non stop, was kissing this nobody.  But she didn't mind. She was sitting next to a big group of guys in her year who hadn't noticed her before. To be honest she was feeling really shy, but honoured by the attention. She tried to ignore the glares Fred, George and Ron were giving her.  
  
"So, Ginny, what classes did you pick?" asked James, a cute boy who had said hi to her occasionally.  
  
"Well, charms and-"  
  
She looked up and saw Malfoy trying to catch her eye. "What?" She mouthed at him.  
  
Malfoy motioned for her to go outside. "Ok." She mouthed.  
  
"Sorry, I've got to go…talk to you later…"  
  
"I was right." Malfoy said as soon as she was out in the grounds, at their usual spot by the lake.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Kissing me _did_ help your reputation. Look at all those guys talking to you!"  
  
"Jealous?" She teased, surprised at her boldness.  
  
"Of course" He said sarcastically "After all, I __was the only guy in your life, not counting Potter and all of a sudden little Ginny is all grown up and talking to other guys-"  
  
"You know my name." She said softly.  
  
He looked embarrassed "Well, you know mine…Anyway, I wanted to see you so that we-"  
  
"You wanted to see me?" She grinned.  
  
"I _needed_ to see you to sort out this mess you've made."  
  
"The mess _I _made?? It's __your fault this has happened!!"  
  
"How's it _my_ fault?"  
  
"Because you…kissed me" Ginny mumbled blushing. She looked away. Carefully avoiding his eyes. "Oh no!"  
  
She could see the faint outline of someone far in the distance. She knew that it was Fred. And he was coming straight towards her. If he saw her with Draco again he would flip.  
  
"What?" Malfoy drawled.  
  
"It's Fred! I've got to go…"  
  
"Oh no. I've got a better idea."  
  
"What?" She said, getting up.  
  
Malfoy grabbed her wrist and pulled her back down to the ground.   
  
"It's time you showed them who's boss.They need to realise that you've grown up. Don't let them push you about. I'm going to kiss you properly this time, just for dear old brother Fred to see." He said, as though he had just invented sliced bread.  
  
"No you're not!" she cried. "That's a stupid idea! You just want to ruin my life again!" She said.  
  
Fred was approaching…  
  
"Look, it's not just that. I never kiss anyone. I don't intend to unless it feels right. In fact I don't think I'm ready to kiss anyone-"She said honestly.  
  
"Not ready? How old are you Weasel? You must be 16 or something!"  
  
"So? That doesn't change the fact that I don't want to kiss __anyone, Quick hide!"   
  
She didn't have any time to leave now, so she shoved Malfoy behind a tree before he was seen.  
  
"Hey, Gin."   
  
It wasn't Fred. It was James.  
  
"Uh, hi!" She said, trying to sound enthusiastic.  
  
"I thought that you would be here." He grinned.  
  
"Did you want something." She said, nervously glancing to where Malfoy was hiding.  
  
James sat down on a tree trunk and motioned for her to sit next to him.   
  
"This is for you." He gave her something which he had been hiding behind his back.  
  
It was a white rose. "Wow!" Ginny gasped. "Thanks! That's so sweet!"  
  
"So are you." James whispered. "Ginny, I've liked you for a long time. And…Well I wanted to know if you'd like to go to Hogsmeade with me?"  
  
She was shocked, but hey, why shouldn't she go with him? James was a nice guy, clever and hardworking, he had helped her a few times in class when she had been stuck.  
  
"Sure, I would love to!" She grinned.  
  
He smiled at her. He had a lovely genuine smile, not like Malfoy's cold smirk.  
  
"I'm looking forward to it." James grinned.  
  
Then he leant down. She knew he was going to kiss her, but she didn't move away. Instead when his lips touched hers she found herself returning the kiss.  
  
The kiss lasted far longer than the one with Malfoy had, but somehow it wasn't as exciting. She pushed these thoughts as far back in her mind as she could.  
  
James stood up. "I better go. I need to finish my homework. See you tomorrow."  
  
"See you tomorrow." She whispered as he walked off.  
  
Her second kiss. James was perfect. Why was she comparing the way he kissed to Malfoy?  
  
The suddenly she panicked. _MALFOY_!! __He was there!!  
  
"Malfoy? You can come out now…" She said hesitantly. There was no reply. She looked behind the tree. He wasn't there.  
  
She turned around and looked about and with a shock she realised that she all could see was the back of him, storming back up to the castle.  
  
"Malfoy?!" She yelled. "Where are you going?"  
  
But he didn't reply. He didn't even turn around.   
  
  
**A/N : ** A lot of stuff will be explained in the next chapter, like why Draco wanted to kiss Ginny and why he walked off like he did. I hope this chapter explained all of the stuff about Fred and George.  
  
  
I'm looking for a Beta reader, in fact, I wouldn't mind having several. Anyone interested? If you are, please leave your email address and say why you would be good at it.  
  
Thanks everyone who reviewed! I think the last chapter has got the most reviews so far, but that could be because I left it the longest before updating…I had no idea so many people would react to that cliffhanger!  
  
So a BIG thanks to these people for reviewing, they rock! :  
  
**Harrypotter4ever** : Hope that explained everything, **Missy**, **The Blue Flying Lunch Box** : Don't worry, I won't leave yous hanging…yet lol, _****Crystal : Harry and Ron being gay is a weird thought isn't it? Lol, ****Ice Princess,**** blackrose : Thanks! I'm really beginning to enjoy doing cliffhangers ~evil grin~, ****ATrueSlytherin,  vans : I think people use cliffhangers cause it makes people want to read on and makes them come back to find out what happens, ****akaSailor Mars : Sorry that took so long! Thanks!, **Ginny Malfoy** : Nice name! Sorry about the wait, **Aka*Rei** : Thanks!, **Darcel**,**** frananddragon : awwww thanks!, **Angelic Vampire** : Do you think so? Thanks!, ****Mei Lin, **HahahaLifeisFunny **: LOL! Your review made me laugh so much!, **Culf**, **Crystaline Snape**, **KeeperOfTheMoon**,**** caitlin aka ruler of the world : I was ready for another kiss too, but unfortunately Ginny wasn't, **Angelic-pen** : I like your name!, **adamindgirl**, **Niori**, ***karly*** : Thanks for saying it was original!, ****Annoying little Bella Mafia, aww thanks!, **PurpleHaze** : Wow, you didn't hassle me to do this chapter! That's strange!, ****Snake Goddess Buto : Glad you found it funny, ****Hattie,**** Arianell : I'm a Ginny/Draco addict too!, **Kirunai**, **skittles**. ****Lady Cecilia : Yeah! There's more turmoil to come, especially now!, **Seka** : thanks! I know I haven't been online that much, I was away but I'll be online a lot now probably, **PsychoTeenyBopper** : Sorry for being so evil! **kyleepotter **, **GirlAngel**, Lol! I did type it up!!...eventually! ****Kenny, **Vara **: don't worry, I didn't forget this fic! **Sakura1287 **: Thanks for that correction, I'll change it when I can be bothered lol, is this really on your friends favourites list?Wow! ,****lacey,** Puppy,** ****forbidden, **Lyn Malfoy-Felton **: I dunno where I got the idea from, it just came to me, Don't worry, Draco and Ginny will end up together, **Sabina Evans** : I love Draco too, **Airna**  
  
  
Sorry the comments to the reviewers weren't that long, there were a lot of reviewers and I wanted to get the chapter out.  
  
**To review or not to review? That is the question (_And the answer's YES!!!)  
_**  
  
   
  
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	10. We can Work It Out

**I'm so so sorry this took so long! I had exams then my computer was broken etc. Anyway. Here it is now.   
  
Disclaimer : Still hasn't changed in the 20000 years its taken me to update  
  
This chapter is dedicated to my fantastic beta – ****Marda** for being _great!!!_**  
  
  
Chapter 10 – We can Work it out  
  
"**Think of what you're saying  
You can get it wrong and still you think that's it's alright  
Think of what I'm saying  
We can work it out and get it straight or say goodnight**"  
  
~ **The Beatles ~ We can work it out**  
  
Draco stalked back to the castle, extremely mad. Mad at Weasley and mad at himself for being mad.  He walked into the Slytherin common room; glaring at anyone who approached him. Sulkily he lay down on his bed and started hitting his pillow.  
   
"Stupid!"(thump)  
  
"Bitch"(thump)  
  
"What"(thump)  
  
"is her PROBLEM??!!" (THUMP, THUMP, THUMP)   
  
"Argh!" His pillow burst, sending a frenzy of feathers into his face. Scowling he fixed it with a wave of his wand.   
  
Stupid Weasley! It wasn't like he _wanted_ to kiss her. No way! But it was extremely hypocritical to say she didn't kiss anybody then turn round and snog the face off the first guy that came round the corner. It was a bit of an insult really. Who did she think she was dealing with? Ok, so he just wanted to kiss her to annoy her brothers and stir up trouble, but that wasn't the point!  
  
"What's so great about this James guy anyway?" He growled.  
  
"I dunno. You tell me." He heard a voice behind him say.  
  
"Ah!" Draco jumped. "Oh! Zack! Don't do that!" He yelled, shaking his fist  
  
"Whoa, chill man!"  Zack took a seat on Draco's bed. "What's your problem?"  
   
"Nothing!" Draco said, thumping his pillow again.  
  
"Right." Zack slowly said, raising an eyebrow. "Somehow I don't believe you."  
  
"Well it's true! Nothing's wrong!" Draco said, slamming his pillow against the bedpost.  
  
"Oy! That's enough of that, mate!" Zack laughed, and took Draco's pillow away from him. "So what's got you in this state, then?"  
  
"Weasley." Draco said dejectedly.  
  
"Tell me you don't _like_ her!"  
  
"No! Nothing like that!" Draco said honestly.  
  
"Well what did she do?"  
  
"I don't want to talk about it." Draco growled.  
  
"Don't be like that! You can trust good old Zack!" Zack grinned  
  
"The words trust and Zack don't go together in the same sentence!" Draco mumbled.  
  
"Come on, mate. Cheer up!" Zack laughed then when he noticed that his words had had no effect whatsoever he got up "Ok that's it. Get your winter cloak."   
  
Draco did so, without questioning him. Soon they were both sneaking down a secret passage into Hogsmeade. The passage took them to inside the sweet shop, Honeydukes. Soon they were outside in the frosty air. Zack was too used to leaving the school premises to worry about being caught; Draco was too lost in thought to care. The cold wind stung their faces, Draco pulled his cloak closer around him as Zack led him down, past all of the shops Draco had been to before.  
  
"Where are we going?" He muttered to Zack, his teeth chattering.  
  
"You'll see." Zack grinned.  
  
Zack led Draco to a small, but lively bar.  
  
"Why didn't we go to the three broomsticks?" Draco grumbled, as they took a seat.  
  
"Cause this place is more fun! Plus there's no chance of running into any teachers here." Zack said, snapping his fingers.  
  
A girl, dressed in a short black dress came over. "Hey Zack!" She smiled. "Who's your friend?"  
  
"Draco Malfoy." Draco said half heartedly  
  
She shook it. "Ooh! A Malfoy!" She giggled. "I'm Mandy. So what do you want?"  
  
"Two mulled meads." Zack said.   
  
"Coming up!"  
  
She got them their drinks then sat and chatted with them.  
  
"Do you work here?" Draco asked.  
  
"Some of the time. It's a part time job."  
  
Just then, the music started playing and four girls started dancing on the bar.   
  
"Wooo!" Zack cried. "Go girls!"  
  
Draco laughed. He was actually having a good time. Especially talking to Mandy. She was really cool. Good looking too.   
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Two hours later Draco and Zack left the pub, slightly…tipsy.  
  
"That was fun!" Draco yelled when they got back to Hogwarts  
  
"Yeah!" Zack yelled.  
  
Neither of them bothered to keep their voices down. They got down to the dungeons and were still shouting when Snape emerged from his office, clad in his typical long nightshirt.  
  
"Howdy, Snapey-boy!" Draco grinned.  
  
"Awright, mate! How's it hanging?" Zack cried.  
  
Snape scowled. "Malfoy. My office. Now. Zack. Go to your room. I will talk to you later."  
  
Draco took a seat in Snape's office, taking pleasure in sprawling across the chairs.   
  
"Whadya wan'?" He laughed.  
  
"How much did you drink?" Snape said, seriously.  
  
"Dunno. 'Bout 20 Mulled Meads…"  
  
"Twenty! Draco! Are you stupid?" Snape hissed.  
  
"No! But I know you think I am!" Draco cried. "Stupid Draco who mocks his father, stupid Draco who loses against Potter at Quidditch, stupid Draco who wants to kiss Weasley…"   
"Draco. Go to bed."  
  
"I wanna kiss her! I do! I wanna know what her lips taste like! I think they would taste like strawberries! I don't even love her, I just wanna kiss Ginny! See I know her name too!" Draco waved his arms about frantically.  
  
Snape sighed and put his head in his hands. "Go to bed, Draco. Before you embarrass yourself more."  
  
"Aww, cheers mate, always looking out for me an' my best interests! You know, you're the father I never had! I'm going to tell my father that! Do you have any paper? I wanna write a letter. Then I'll write one to Ginny too! Askin if she'll kiss me! Whadya think she'll say?"  
  
"Draco-"  
  
"You think she'll say no! Don't you? Go away! I don't wanna talk to you!" Draco gave Snape a violent shove before walking out of the door and collapsing on his bed.  
  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Ginny watched Malfoy became a speck in the distance, feeling guilty. He was just beginning to be almost nice to her. And it must have looked so bad to him. Her saying she didn't kiss anybody, then him having to see her kiss James. She shuddered and sat back down by the lake. She pulled her knees up to her chest. What had she done? Would Malfoy ever talk to her again? She wiped away a tear before it rolled over her cheek. Why did she care anyway? It was just Malfoy.   
Shaking her head she stood up and went back to Gryffindor tower.  Flopping down on her bed she began to worry about the upcoming dance. Time was running out. Only a week and a half left. She got out her diary.  
  
**Dear diary,  
                    Something good and bad happened tonight. Malfoy tried to kiss me again. I don't know why. Probably just so that he could laugh at me later, and to annoy my brothers. But the awful thing is that he saw me kissing someone else! Yes, it's true! James kissed me today!! But Malfoy was there and saw it and now I think he's really mad. I have to try and explain things to him tomorrow, the only problem is that there is nothing to explain! Could I tell him I didn't want James to do that? Would he believe that? It's worth a try. In the meantime, I'm going with James to Hogesmead tomorrow. I'm beginning to hope that he will ask me to the dance! It could be really fun and I can't wait to wear my new dress robes! Did I mention them already? Oh my gosh! I don't think I did! Well, they're lovely, absolutely amazing, I- sorry, I've got to go now, Hermione just walked in. And wants to talk to me. Weird!  
Love Ginny  
  
**"Hey Hermione, What do you want?" Ginny asked, hurriedly putting her diary away in her bedside cabinet.  
  
"Oh…just to talk I guess." Hermione said, winding a bit of hair around her finger looking nervous.  
  
"Ok…"Ginny said hesitantly. "So how are you?"  
  
"Fine." Hermione said awkwardly. "You?"  
  
"Same."  
  
"Good"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
_What does Hermione want? Why is she being all weird? Ok, must say something to make conversation…_  
  
"So, are you, Harry and Ron speaking again?" Ginny asked, hoping that the answer was yes.  
  
"We are."  
  
There was silence for a while and Ginny opened her mouth to make more light conversation but Hermione spoke first.  
  
"Ginny. I like Ron!" She burst out "I just had to tell someone! But I don't think he likes me! He is always mean and makes fun of me and-"  
  
"You like Ron??" Ginny said, incredulously, wondering why she hadn't noticed. ****   
  
"Kind of." Hermione muttered.  
  
"Well, you either do or you don't." Ginny said, giggling.  
  
Hermione started to laugh too. It wasn't long until the two girls were rolling around the floor shaking with laughter.  
  
Then suddenly Hermione stopped. "I really do like him though."  
  
"He likes you."  
  
"Does he really?" Hermione looked ecstatic.  
  
"Yes!"  
  
Hermione looked so happy that Ginny felt envious, obviously not because Ron liked Hermione, more because Hermione now had someone who she liked and who liked her back. And she would have a date for the dance.  
  
"I've always got James." Ginny said out loud by mistake.  
  
"Sorry?" Hermione stopped grinning for a minute.  
  
"What?"  
  
"You just said, "I've always got James."  
  
"I did?"  
  
"You did. Who's James?"  
  
"Just someone I know."  
  
"I don't believe you. Go on, tell me. I told you about Ron."  
  
Ginny blushed "He asked me to go to Hogesmeade with him tomorrow."  
  
"Are you going?" Hermione grinned.  
  
"Yeah, probably. He's a nice guy."  
  
"So what's the problem?" Hermione asked, noticing Ginny's hesitant tone.  
  
"Nothing…"  
  
"Are you sure? You can trust me Ginny. I won't tell anyone."  
  
"It's just…I think I hurt someone's feelings just there. And I really didn't mean to."  
  
"Well, why don't you say sorry to them?"  
  
"They're not the kind of person you can say sorry to. Plus it would be kind of…awkward."  
  
"Face to face you mean?" Hermione paused and thought for a moment. "Why don't you write them an owl?"  
  
Ginny gasped. Why didn't she think of that? She could easily say sorry to Malfoy by owl, without getting embarrassed. Although she didn't totally understand what was wrong with him. Why had he just walked off? _I suppose it did look pretty bad though, like I go round kissing every guy that comes my way except him…  
  
After Hermione left, Ginny put quill to paper. She found it hard trying to work out what to write. She didn't want to make the letter too soft, or Malfoy would sneer at it. She ended up sending a note that said:   
  
**Malfoy: I'm not sure what happened tonight, I don't know why you walked off, but if I did something to upset you then I'm sorry. I don't think you owe me any more. Do you? I've lost track. But if you did, then we'll call it even.   
I didn't mean to leave you standing there while I was talking to James. I hope you're not too annoyed.   
Ginny  
  
**Then she sent it. Hoping that he would read it and reply. She waited all evening, but she didn't get any response. With a sinking heart she eventually gave up waiting and went to bed.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
When Draco woke up the next morning, the events of the previous night came back to him. Cringing, he hid his face under his covers. How could he face Snape again after everything that he had said? He had never felt so embarrassed in his life. _Thank god it's Saturday, I won't have to see him_ was the only reassuring thought in his mind. How could he have said those things about Weasley?   
  
It must have been the drink, making him say stuff he didn't mean, Draco thought as he pulled on his clothes.   
No one else was in the common room, he had slept late. Everyone was away to Hogesmead. Great he had missed the carriages leaving.   
  
As he walked down to the Great Hall, he was pleased that there weren't a lot of people about. He had a thumping headache and wasn't in the mood for talking. Woe betides anyone that came near him.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Ginny was having a great time in Hogesmead with James. He was being really nice to her and had insisted on buying her a butterbeer. They sat and talked for a while, grateful to be inside in the warmth. Ginny told James a lot of things about her family, then listened to him talking about his relatives. James was really interesting and was good at holding a conversation but Ginny found that her mind still kept wandering to Malfoy. Was he really that upset by what had happened that night?  
  
"Ginny?"  
  
"Huh?" She looked up to see James looking intently at her, waiting for an answer.  
  
"Sorry, can you repeat that?" She asked, feeling stupid. She decided to put Malfoy out of her mind. She didn't want James thinking she was some kind of idiot that couldn't pay attention. _Anyway, I'll find him when I get back to the castle. We can work it out then_  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
By the time the carriages were back from Hogesmead, Draco was in a thoroughly bad mood. He had spotted Snape earlier that afternoon, and spent the whole afternoon hiding from him in his dorm. He couldn't face Severus after what had happened the other night. He knew he had to at some point, but he wanted to delay it for as long as possible.  
Draco was also very irritated that he had missed the trip to Hogesmead. He had been planning on get Christmas presents there, now he would have to write home and get a house elf to get his presents for him. No change there, Draco usually did that. But this year he had wanted to get them himself.  
  
He strode to the Great Hall, glaring as the floods of pupils pushed past him to their common rooms.  
  
"Watch it!" He snarled at a first year that had the audacity to elbow him. He couldn't help but smirk as the young boy backed away with a terrified look on his face. He was too busy laughing to notice Weasley until she had grabbed him and pulled him outside.  
  
"We seem to spend half our life here." She muttered, drawing her coat around herself.  
  
Draco started to walk off. He didn't particularly want to see her either.  
  
"Wait!" She said, grabbing his robes and stopping him leaving.  
  
"Whadya want?" He growled at her.  
  
"I want to know why you're annoyed! I want to know why you didn't reply to my owl! It returned with the letter I sent you this morning! Didn't you read it? I'm sure it knows where your window is by now!"  
  
"Owl? I didn't get an owl…oh!" Draco suddenly realised that he had been out with Zack when it had arrived.  
  
"What? Didn't you go to bed last night?" She sneered at him in exactly the same way as he had said it to her, not that long ago.  
  
"That's none of your business, Weasley."  
  
"But it_ is_ my business to know why you're mad!" She said, stepping in front of him so he couldn't leave.   
  
There was an awkward silence for a moment.   
  
"I'm sorry about the other night." Weasley finally mumbled, looking at her feet.  
  
"Oh."  
  
"I shouldn't have done that." She tried again to get him to speak  
  
"Hm."  
  
"Why are you being like this?!!" She yelled at him. "I'm fed up of you and your _I__ don't_ _show emotions_ thing! I'm apologising! Stop being so darn stuck up and __listen!"  
  
"Don't yell at me!" He thundered at her.  
  
Then dammit, the giggles started again.  
  
"Shut up!" Draco moaned as she laughed hysterically. "You always do this! What's so _funny_???"  
  
"You."   
  
More laughter  
  
"Me?"  
  
"You're hilarious when you're mad!"  
  
Draco felt very indignant. Being mad was one of the few things he could do, and he liked to think that he was pretty scary when he did it.  
  
_How do I shut her up?_ Then he had an idea. Of course. Why didn't he think of it before? He took his wand out of his pocket and performed a simple silencing spell.  
  
"Ha! Not so funny now are you?"  
  
Weasley glared at him, but Draco leaned over and snatched her wand before she could use it. Then he grinned at her.  
  
Then he yelled when she suddenly threw herself at him.   
  
"You throw yourself at me a lot, Weasley. Understandably of course. We both know you think I'm handsome."  
  
She rolled her eyes, but she was smiling too. Draco started to sit up, to hand over her wand just as she leaned down to get it. Their lips brushed and they both jumped up, far away from each other. Weasley was going bright red, and Draco had an awful feeling that he was too.  
  
"Uh…here's your wand." He said, handing it back to her. "I'll undo the spell, just in case you don't know how to. You are a Weasley after all…." He joked weakly.  
  
"So…we're not annoyed at each other anymore?" Weasley said once she could speak.  
  
"Well. I guess not. You shouldn't have…it doesn't matter…"  
  
"Good" She stepped forward as if she was about to hug him, but she obviously decided against it . "I'll go back to the castle now…Uh. See you."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*  
  
Ginny was breathless when she reached her common room. And it wasn't from running. What had just happened left her feeling light headed. But why? Not much had happened…well apart from when their lips had touched, but that was just embarrassing. And it was just Draco. Evil mean Draco. So why did the thought of seeing him the next day make her feel strange inside?  
  
_**

  
**Ok people, I promise that chapter 11 will be out super fast!!! Here are my thank yous to everyone who reviewed! This might take a while, I've got about 5 pages worth of reviewers to thank! And I loved every single one of them! You guys are the best! Really helped me to write this chapter!! So a BIG thankyou to :  
  
****bookworm89**:Thanks for being honest, and yes Harry is out of character, I've noticed that but I guess it just fits in with the plot, thanks for liking the fic anyway, and Draco is getting nicer, but I thought people would get bored if he was really mean for too long  
**Emsa****   
**vixenaries****** : Thanks for pointing that out  
**Ohepelss****** Oramtnci  
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nat :lol! Your review made me laugh, yes Draco is maybe beginning to feel something like that, he doesn't realise it though!  
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**Kim**:Thanks! I like the "I owe you, you owe me thing" it helped to get things moving and will come back into the fic later on! ;)  
**The Pen**: Burning passion? Wow! Thanks!  
**Niori******  
La Bella Yu-gi-oh: Don't worry, your name will be here somewhere!   
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ye ye  
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RE16  
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DrAcOz_gUrL : I will put more R/H in it  
**Alexandra Keaton  
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Viginia Malfoy  
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kristal  
Blue-Violet Vixen **: Yeah, James will come into the fic a bit, later on  
**giggles **   
**niiri******  
Red of Rose : nice screen name!  
**Princess of Mirkwood**   
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meow-meow : Im working up to the romance! Don't worry! It will be there!!  
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ChristyKay : Zack! Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!  
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**Cappuccino **: lol, yeah we're awful for our lack of updating aren't we?**  
  
OK people, REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!!!!!!!!AND THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE UP WAAAAAAY SOONER THAN THIS ONE!  
  
********


	11. Dive

Disclaimer : The characters, aren't mine. Not even Zack since I borrowed him from Saved By The Bell. (Consider yourselves lucky – with my current Smallville obsession Clark Kent might have ended up wandering into the Hogwarts grounds.)The lyrics are taken from a song by DC Talk, funnily enough it's called Dive.

Author's Notes – There's not much I can say really. Here we are two years later and I'm determined to finish this fic. I appologise for any grammar and spelling mistakes, but hopefully there won't be too many. I hate working out where commas are meant to go, so basically I just kind of guessed ;-)

Chapter 11 – Dive

_I took a dive, I took a love plunge into your arms_

The light of the morning sun slanted through the window and Ginny could see specks of dust against the red curtains. She yawned and rolled onto her front, burying her face into the pillow, trying to remember what day it was. _Mmmff! Monday!_

She stretched her arms over her head as she remembered the events of the day before (Draco was talking to her again!) and she felt fairly cheerful when she reached from her brush next to the bedside table.

Draco sat up with a shot in his bed. _What time is it?_ He peered around the green curtains and flopped back onto the bed feeling relief that no one else was awake yet. That meant he had time to think before the usual frantic rush to get dressed. Not that Draco ever rushed to get dressed; he didn't like to be hurried.

Just as he was getting out of bed his owl appeared with a letter. He stroked her as he detached the parchment and read it. His eyes darkened and with a growl of annoyance he crumpled it up and threw it into the fire.

"Wake up, it's a beautiful morning!" Ginny sang to herself as she walked through the school. The day was absolutely gorgeous! Finally, sunshine! After the endless grey that seemed to have surrounded Hogwarts! The sun shone cheerfully through the windows and lit up the castle.

"I rise as the morning comes crawling through the blinds, I shouldn't be up at this time, "Ginny continued to sing to herself, "But I can't sleep with you there by my si-ide!"

"Well, that's understandable, Weasley." Draco muttered into her ear, as he walked past her into the Great Hall.

Ginny felt slightly embarrassed that he'd caught her singing, he came out of nowhere, but she couldn't help smiling to herself as she took her seat. She tried to block out the image of waking up next to Draco.

She tried not to glance up at him, but when she did she noticed that he was looking at her. He did the usual eyebrow quirk and she looked away, smiling but blushing.

Classes had finished and Ginny was moping around the Hogwarts grounds, not really in the mood for any of her classmates.

The day had dragged on and she couldn't wait for it to be over. She sat down by the lake, picking at the daisies in the grass. Although her mood had gone downhill the weather certainly had not and she lay back, soaking in the afternoon sun.

A shadow fell over her and she knew who it was before she opened her eyes.

"Hey" She said, looking up at Draco, squinting in the sun. She was reminded of the time she had woken up to see him standing over her in the hospital wing. He looked angelic now too, with the rays of sunshine slanting behind him.

_Ha! angel? More like devil_ She thought to herself

"Hello." He muttered and sat down next to her.

She stared in front of her for a few minutes, waiting for him to speak. When he didn't she finally turned to face him.

"Are you going to say anything?"

"No. I just felt like sitting here."

They sat in silence for a few more minutes. Draco sighed.

"Are you ok?" Ginny asked gently.

"Well. I got another owl from my father today."

"Saying anything interesting?"

"The usual rubbish. It just…gets me down you know?"

Ginny stared at him in surprise. This was the first time he had ever admitted weakness to her. The first time he had willingly told her what he was actually feeling.

"Are you just going to ignore him?"

Draco stretched back onto the ground, resting his head on his hands, his muscles were shown off by the action. "Yeah probably. There's no way I'm becoming a Death Eater."

Ginny lay down beside him, her hair falling over her face. As she looked over at him she couldn't help remembering the thought that she had had earlier about waking up next to him in bed. She bit her lip and looked away.

He noticed and raised his eyebrow.

"Is there a problem, Virginia?" he said huskily.

She started at his use of that name. "That isn't my name." She said.

"I figured Ginny was short for something."

"Yes, but not Virginia."

He smirked. "Oh I don't know. You look like a _Virgin_ia to me. Are you, Ginny?"

"What makes you so sure?" She said indignantly.

He ran his eyes up and down her. "You like to get to know a guy before you even _kiss_ him."

"I know James well." She said pointedly.

Draco had forgotten about James. "So you've slept with him then?" He said, accusingly.

"Well, no…" She said, blushing as usual. "You wanna do something fun?" She said, desperate to change the subject.

"Like what?"

"I don't know. Just something fun to take your mind off things?"

He looked at her for a minute. "Alright then."

"It's a lovely day, we should be able to think of something to do." Ginny said, scanning the grounds for inspiration.

"Fancy a swim?" Draco said, looking at the lake.

"A _swim_? Are you mad?"

"Probably." He said dryly.

"And what exactly would we go swimming in?"

"Depends how much fun you're wanting." Draco said, grinning mischievously.

"Are you trying to lead me astray, Mr Malfoy?" She said jokingly.

"And what if I am?"

"Maybe this isn't a very good idea."

"You are _so boring!_" He scowled. "I've never _met_ such a _stick in the mud_ in my _whole_ _life_!"

"Right. You're on Malfoy."

How did he always manage to get her to do things she'd rather not do? Ginny wondered, shaking her head.

"Weasley, I was kidding. Maybe one day, but I don't think the middle of the day is a good time to go skinny dipping, especially when anyone could walk out. But, hey, if you'd like to risk it, I'm happy to sit here and watch."

"Chicken." Ginny muttered.

"No, not chicken. Just _smart_. I don't really want to spend my evening in detention."

"Well, that's a shame, Malfoy." Came a voice from behind them.

Ginny and Draco spun around to see Zach standing there.

"Yeah? And why's that?" Draco drawled.

"Snape wanted to see you in his office right away." Zach smirked. "_Have a fun evening_!" He added sarcastically as he walked off.

"Well, aren't you going to go?"

Draco hadn't actually considered it. "No. Are you mad? He's just going to moan at me."

"Why did he want to see you anyway?"

Draco's mind flashed back to when he had come in late and drunk, talking about kissing Ginny.

"Oh, I kicked a first year or something." He said vaugley.

"Bully." Ginny muttered.

"You think I'm a bully?" Draco asked, sounding pretty hurt.

Ginny laughed. "Well, yeah! You _are_ a bully!"

Their conversation was interupted by an owl swooping over and hovering next to Draco. Draco took the note that was attached to it and quickly read it. Ginny noticed his facial expression change from relaxed to tense and almost frightened.

"What is it?" She asked.

He handed the note to her and she read it outloud. " "Dear Draco, You have left me to choice. Your lack of response to the owl that I sent this morning has made me decide to do what I intended all along._I am taking you out of Hogwarts_-" What? Draco! He can't do that!" Ginny looked at him, horrified.

Draco motioned with his eyes for her to keep reading. Ginny did so, her voice getting more and more indignant.

" "It is time for you to join the Death Eaters, son. You have a week. – Your father." "

Ginny shook her head as she handed the note back to him. "He can't do it. He can't. It's _your_ choice."

"I think you'll find that he can." Draco said wearily. "My father seldom doesn't get his way."

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't know." Draco said, and stared out onto the lake.

Ginny felt terrible that evening as she got ready for bed. Poor Draco. How could his father do something like that? For the first time in ages she began to truly appreaciate her family. Sure, her brothers could be over protective at times, but it was all because they cared for her. She couldn't remember her father ever forcing her to do something against her will. He left her to make his own choices.

She sighed. What could she do? The afternoon had been terrible. Draco hadn't been his usual self at all. Infact, she missed his sarcastic comments, he seemed to lose his spark without them.

_  
I have to do something to cheer him up_! She decided, and searched her mind for something that he would enjoy. Then the idea came to her in a flash. Smiling she reached for her quill and jotted a quick note.

"_Draco – Meet me down at the lake asap! – Ginny."_

The only problem that remained was getting out of the castle without being seen.

Ginny tiptoed into the room where Harry and her brother lay sleeping. Thank goodness everyone seemed to have gone to bed early tonight! Quietly she kneeled down and started to go through Harry's trunk. She felt slightly guilty about doing so, but it was for a good cause. Kind of. __

Bingo! She thought as she found his invisibility cloak. Silently she put it on and left the room.

"So what's all this about?" Draco demanded to know once she'd got down to the lake. "This had better be good."

"Grouchy, grouchy!" She teased. "Remember when you told me that swimming in the lake this afternoon was a stupid idea?"

"Yeah. And how right I was."

"Well, what about swimming in it tonight?", Draco opened his mouth to speak so Ginny continued quickly. "There's no one about, we won't get caught! How did you get out here without being noticed anyway?"

"Invisibility cloak…Are you mad? It'll be _freezing_!"

"You are _so boring_", Ginny imitated. "Come on, Draco. It'll get your mind off…you know."

"Yeah, cause if I freeze to death I won't have to worry about my father any more, will I?" he jibed. "Hey, what are you doing?"

Ginny had already removed her robes and was starting to remove her t shirt.

"Steady on!" Draco smirked, before quickly turning round so that he wasn't facing her.

"You know what?" Ginny's voice came from behind him. "You're quite the gentleman, Draco."

Draco ignored her comment and muttered "Just because _you're_ going to go through with this crazy idea, doesn't mean I'll join you!"

But it was too late, Draco heard a loud splash. Turning round he saw Ginny's head and shoulders sticking out of the water.

"Oh oh oh…" She moaned, struggling to speak. "It's _freezing_!" She swam about frantically, trying to get warm.

"You're really not selling this idea to me." Draco said dryly.

"It's not that bad!" Ginny lied. "Come on! What are you? Chicken or something?"

Draco didn't answer, he merely started to take his clothes off. Ginny watched as he removed his shirt, taking in how amazing his body was. _Since when does Draco Malfoy have a six pack_?

Draco saw Ginny running her eyes hungrily up and down him. "Having fun are you?"

"What? I! Grrr!" She said haughtily before turning around so that she couldn't see him.

Draco removed his trousers and his boxers and dived into the lake and swam up to her. "You weren't kidding! This is _cold_!" He whined.

"Well, swim about then, you'll get warm!" Ginny said, splashing him playfully.

"Watch it!" Draco snarled, but she could see that his eyes were smiling.

"And what if I don't?"

"Then I guess I'll have to splash you back!"

Ginny shrieked and tried to swim away, but he was too quick for her. A huge tidal of water came rushing over her. She laughed, blinking the water out of her eyes.

"Draco Malfoy appears to have a playful side!"

"Playful?" He said scornfully. "I like to think of myself as a lion, not a kitten."

"And what about me?"

"Oh, you're a kitten alright." He smirked.

Draco and Ginny swam about for a while. Once you got used to the water, it really wasn't bad at all, Draco thought to himself. He looked at Ginny, blissfully swimming next to him.

"Hey, Weasley?"

She turned to look at him, her wet hair framing her face. "Yeah?"

"Thanks for everything. It's helped, getting my mind off stuff."

Ginny smiled. "No problem." She leaned back against a large rock, causing the water to ripple.

For the first time that evening Draco realised how close their bodies were. He also noticed that they were both naked. He cleared his throat. The water was pretty thick and murky so he couldn't see anything below Ginny's shoulders, but he couldn't help himself picturing it.

Ginny smiled. "You look funny when you're wet." Sexy was probably the word that she would use, but no way could she tell him that.

"Oh really?" He growled. "We'll see about that?"

"What are you gonna do?" Ginny whispered.

"Make you beg for mercy."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

He puts his hands on the rock, one of either side of her, his arms stretched out as if he was pinning her to it. Ginny looked up into his eyes. Draco raised an eyebrow.

"Begging for mercy yet?" He murmured.

"Not yet." Ginny whispered, looking up into his grey eyes.

He moved a lot closer, so that their bodies were almost touching.

"How about now?"

Ginny looked up into his eyes and suddenly Draco was looking at her as if he was seeing her for the first time. She was very aware that his _very_ strong and muscled arms were brushing against the side of her head and that his upper body was almost pressed against her breasts.

"Yeah. Now." She whispered.

And then he leaned in and kissed her.

_Author's Notes_ : Ok, I would thank all of my reviews who reviewed chapter ten personally, but it would take ages and mean I wouldn't get this chapter up for another year or so, knowing me, and it's been so long I reckon most people will have forgotton what they said anyway. I will _not_ say here that I will update really soon because that seems to be a bad jinx and whenever I say that I don't update for a decade, so I will just say : Chapter 12 will hopefully be up next week.

Nagging emails telling me to update are always appreciated. Seriously, it motivates me.


	12. Beta Request

Hey, Sorry to everyone who got excited when they thought that this was going to be a new chapter, although that's really what this little Author's note is about. I really need a new beta, so if anyone would like to do it (please, please, please _someone_ volunteer!) Then could you review or email telling me why you want to beta/ why you would be good at it :) Thanks!


	13. Does It Matter?

A/N : It's been years since I updated this, then I came across it and read some of the reviews and I felt bad for the people who had reviewed and were waiting for another chapter, so if any of the people who originally read this are reading it, Here you go!

I know everything is now amazingly Out of Canon...but I guess Draco/Ginny was NEVER going to be canon anyway! I also know that so many characters are amazingly OUT of character..but what the hell, might as well finish this fic now! This chapter is most likely the second last.

Chapter 12 – Does It Matter?

He felt her gasp in shock, but she didn't pull away. He kissed her more passionately. He didn't know why he was doing this, all he knew was that he had been waiting to for a _very_ long time.

Then they heard the sound of steps coming towards them, and they swiftly pulled apart, and for a second, Draco felt as if he had been deprived of oxygen. He needed his mouth back on hers, screw whoever was coming.

"Who's there?" A voice called out. It was Argus Filch. Draco felt Ginny stiffen and it dawned on him what he had been doing.

"I know someone is there, and whoever it is, is going to be in _big_ trouble!" Filch barked.

The romantic tension between them was replaced by a different kind of tension. Sheer panic.

"What are we going to do?" Ginny whispered to him.

In spite of the desperate situation, Draco felt a twinge of annoyance. Why did she always think that he had all the answers?

"I don't know..Try and hide!" he whispered back angrily, pushing her further round the rock, so that they were as out of sight as possible.

"I know someone is there." Filch's voice came closer this time. His flashlight spread across the surface of the pond, but narrowly missed the corner they were in.

Draco felt as if his breathing was too loud and even in the darkness he could see the look of absolute terror on Ginny's face.

Filch tutted in irritation. "I'll be back." He snarled. "With teachers. And a bigger flashlight. And I will be locking the school doors, so don't think you will be getting back inside!"

They waited for several minutes after his departing footsteps in silence before Ginny whispered "Do you think he's gone?"

"I bloody hope so." Draco said. "Quick, let's make a run for it."

"Did you hear what he said? The gates are locked!" Ginny hissed.

"Did _you_ hear what he said? He's coming back. And hiding somewhere in the grounds has got to be a better alternative than freezing our asses off in this damn lake." Draco snapped back.

"Ok, turn your back." Ginny said.

"_What_?"

"Turn your back while I get out and changed." Ginny said.

_Was she joking?_ "Weasley, this is no time to be a prude! Incase you haven't realised, _we really need to get moving_."

Draco climbed out of the water himself, and saw her avert her eyes. Whatever. He frantically threw on his clothes, and by the time that he had done, he saw that she was clothed too.

"Come on!" He shouted.

Together they ran back to the castle and, sure enough, the door was locked.

"What now?" Ginny asked him.

"Come round the side, I've got an idea."

"No way. I can't climb trees!"

They were standing infront of a large tree, where one of the branches happened to hang just outside a window on the second floor.

"Yes you can!" Draco snapped. "I know you can. Look, I'll give you a leg up."

She looked at him, anxiously.

"Weasley, I really do not want to be expelled, so I'm climbing up, whether you follow or you don't. Now, do you want a leg up or not?"

She nodded.

"Good girl."

Draco gave her a leg up, and watched her climb for a bit, before starting to climb himself, praying that the branches of the tree were strong enough.

Their luck held out. Ginny turned out to be a better climber than Draco had sceptically anticipated and, to his surprise, after a few minutes they were both sitting on the branch outside the large oval window.

Draco opened the lock with his wand, and they were standing in the corridor of the second floor moments later.

"If Filch is smart, he will have alerted the heads of houses, and they will have checked if anyone is missing from their dorms." Ginny said.

"Well, lucky for us, Filch isn't smart. Now scram, Weasley."

She started to say something, but obviously decided against it, and with an awkward wave, she was running towards where Gryffindor tower must have been.

Draco made his way back to the Slytherin common room without incident, and rushed to his bed, without waking anyone.

He lay there, his heart beating frantically. What a night. He started to think about what had in the lake. What he had almost done…Before his tired body gave way and he fell into a deep sleep.

When Ginny awoke the next morning, safely in her bed, she could hardly believe that the events of last night had really happened.

The fact that she had managed to get back into the school and into her dorm without being caught was crazy enough, but what had happened between her and Draco..that was even more crazy.

She went down to breakfast, yawning. She felt a sense of relief wave over her when a glance at the Slytherin table told her that Draco had also returned to his dorm unscathed.

"Life here is so boring." Ron grumbled next to her. "Every day seems the same."

"Ron! How can you even say that!" Hermione reprimanded him. "What about the time when…"

Ginny tuned out as Hermione went into a big list of all the eventful things that had occurred during their time at school, but tuned back in to hear Ron grumble "Well, nothing exciting has happened lately."

_If only he knew_.

Draco wasn't in a good mood. And he was going to bloody well make sure that everyone else knew it.

Lack of sleep and a horrible feeling of uncertainty had made him extremely irritable and he was snapping at everyone that came his way.

He had been back on talking terms with Blaise, but that swiftly went out the window when she asked him what was wrong, and he had sworn angrily in reply.

Even Crabbe and Goyle were avoiding him.

Then he saw Weasley walking down the corridor.

_Great. The last person I want to see._

He turned around and started walking speedily in the other direction. She soon caught him up, after running slightly, and grabbed a hold of his arm.

"Weasley! Not here!" He snapped.

"Draco, we need to talk." She said, her brown eyes looking earnestly up at him. He felt his anger dissolve.

"Ok." He conceded. "But definitely not here. In the grounds tonight?"

She nodded her agreement. "Alright. Say about half eight."

"Ok. See you then." Draco said shortly.

She smiled at him, and walked off and Draco found himself watching her walk down the corridor.

"What's happening there?" Zach said, annoyingly coming out of nowhere at the worst possible time.

"Nothing." Draco said. But he couldn't stop himself from briefly smiling, before rearranging his face into a scowl.

Ginny never spent a lot of time doing her hair. She never spent a lot of time doing her make up either. And yet, here she was, sitting in front of her mirror, putting her hair up, then changing her mind and taking it down again, then pinning it back up multiple times.

"Hermione, how do you think my hair looks best?" She asked her friend.

"Down." Hermione said, not looking up from her book.

"Thanks." Ginny said, taking out the clips she had put in.

"Why?" Hermione asked, suddenly interested.

"Oh, no reason." Ginny smiled.

"A date?" Hermione smirked.

"Kind of…" Ginny said, as she brushed her hair.

"With James?"

"Who?"

"You know, that cute boy you were going to Hogsmeade with?" Hermione said, incredulously.

"Oh him. No."

"Then who?" Hermione really was interested now. She was up at the dresser with her hands on her hips and her book lay on the bed forgotten about.

"It's a secret." Ginny said.

"Tell me!!" Hermione demanded.

"Nope!" Ginny grinned. She applied some lipstick and smacked her lips together. "Right, I'm away!"

"Well, have fun.." Hermione said dubiously. "I hope this mystery date goes well!"

"It will!" Ginny said. "Oh, and Hermione?"

"Yes?" Hermione looked up from the book that she was back reading again.

Ginny winked. "Don't tell Ron!"

Hermione laughed. "Done! Now go!"

Ginny bounded down the steps and into the grounds. It was a lovely evening. As she made her way through the grounds, her mind was racing. What was really going on with her and Draco? And what did she want to be going on? And what did he want to be going on?

She was making her way towards the Quidditch Pitch when she saw a figure slouched down on the ground against a tree.

"_Harry_?" She said incredulously. "What are you doing there?"

"Just wanted some time out alone…" He said, dejectedly.

"Oh. Well..that's just as well cause I've really got to go-" Ginny interrupted.

"..But I don't mind you staying." He finished off.

"I'd love to, Harry, but I really can't, I've got somewhere to be." She said.

"Ginny. Please." He looked up at her.

"Ok." She said. "But I can't stay long."

"Where are you meant to be?" He asked.

"Kind of got a sort of date. So what's up with you?" She sat down next to him on the ground. There were fir leaves and it prickled.

"Just..everything really. I think Ron and Hermione like each other."

"So?" She asked.

"They're my best friends. The first real friends I had. I don't want to get left behind."

"Harry. You won't get left behind. They may love each other, but they will always love you as well. And they have always been there for you, why would it change now just because their feelings for each other have changed?"

Harry half smiled. "When did you get so mature, Ginny? Giving out good advice..going on dates.."

"Hey" She nudged him, "I only said it was a sort of date."

And then Harry did something unexpected. He took her face in his hands and kissed her.

She had waited for this for so long. She kissed him back. She felt nothing. _How_? _After all of this time loving him.._

Harry broke apart. "I..I shouldn't have done that." He said.

"It's..It's fine." She said, dazed. _I don't love him anymore. I love someone else…_

She stood up, quickly. "Harry, you've just done me a huge favour, you've just totally clarified something I already knew I felt!" She bent down and kissed him on the forehead and ran to meet Draco.

She arrived at the Quidditch pitch and looked around, but he wasn't there. Checking her watch, she saw that she was ten minutes late.

She should have known Malfoy wouldn't have waited. He hated late-ness.

Disappointed, she walked back to the castle, with the intention of sending him an owl.

She walked the long way back to the castle, in case he had taken a walk around the grounds and sure enough, she saw him standing by the lake, gazing over at the rock that they had hidden behind the other night.

"There you are!" She said, pushing him lightly. "Sorry I'm late."

He turned around, his face stony.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"What's wrong." He repeated blankly. "What's wrong. Why would anything be wrong?"

"I don't know, you just seemed kind of –"

"Have fun with Harry?" He said, in the same blank tone.

"What?" She asked, a sinking feeling in her stomach.

"I saw you." He said. "I saw the two of you.."

"Draco, it wasn't like that..." She said frantically.

"You finally got what you wanted. The great Harry Potter to like you." He said. The blank tone had gone. He sounded angry now. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you!" She exclaimed. "Harry kissed me! I didn't want him to!"

"You looked like you were enjoying it to me!" He snarled.

"Well, I wasn't!" She said, trying to make him understand. "It meant nothing at all!"

"I had you down all wrong. As sweet. And innocent. I think we both know that's not the case!" He shouted.

Ginny felt herself get angry now. It was like he was deliberately trying not to understand. And now he was just throwing insults at her, without giving her a chance to properly explain the Harry thing.

"And what the hell is that meant to mean?" She yelled at him.

"For someone that doesn't want to go around doing a lot of kissing…you seem to be doing a hell of a lot to me!"

"What?! Draco!" She yelled.

"Is that even all you've done? What about that night when you didn't get to bed because you were up "talking" with Harry? Are you sure that's what you were really doing?"

"Yes!" She snapped.

"And then there was James. Who knows what really went on there!"

"Nothing! Just like nothing went on with Harry! And I didn't know it would upset you so much! It's not..it's not like you're my boyfriend, is it? We're just friends...if you can even call it that!"

"Well, I don't think I would call it that! Not now." Draco said.

"Why? Why are you so upset about me and Harry ? Last night..you kissed me. Does this mean it meant something? Or were you just toying with me like you do with everyone else!" Ginny demanded.

"What the hell does it matter now?" Draco said softly.

"It matters to me." She said.

"I doubt that, since I just saw you kissing someone else." He snapped.

"Draco. It did matter. It _does_ matter. Does it matter to you?" She said, pleadingly.

"No." He said. "It doesn't. Not any more." And he walked away.

Ginny knew that she had never felt real heartbreak with Harry, because, as she watched Draco walk away, she felt as if her heart had been ripped out.


End file.
